Blackadder Chronicles: SH Hillwood Uprising
by Azard Shioni
Summary: When a field trip goes awry, Arnold, Helga and Lila find themselves in the cursed town of Silent Hill. Can they accept the inner darkness they all possess and escape or will Silent Hill add three more victims to its list? 1st in the Blackadder series, used to be 2nd.
1. Welcome to Silent Hill

**Me: And here's yet another new one and now the first in the Blackadder Chronicles series.**

**Rendan: Wow. I never thought I'd see these two crossed.**

**Me: I know. I feel demented as hell for thinking about this.**

**Zero: You ARE demented.**

**Me: Oh yeah! Anyway, I don't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. I only own the OCs I will throw in much later.**

**Rendan: I can't wait to see what happens with this one.**

**Me: Me neither. Anyway, read and enjoy.**

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Welcome to Silent Hill<span>

It all started with a field trip, an innocent enough start for anything really. A lone, yellow school bus was on a week long trip cross country. Sure, the idea was foolish for some and fun for others but it seemed like an interesting way to get the students to see and understand the nation's beautiful landscape.

That, and it was certainly an escape from the mundane and casual setting of Hillwood, Washington. The class in question was the class of one Robert Simmons, fourth grade teacher of P.S. 118. On the bus itself, a multitude of activity was currently occurring. Mr. Simmons was trying to unite the students in a song that premiered in the musical 'masterpiece' "Rats", though only two students actually joined in. Some students were cheering wildly while others told jokes or did their own things.

"Ow! Cut it out, Helga!" Arnold shouted as he turned his attention behind him. Arnold was a young male, nine at the most who wore a blue shirt with a too long plaid shirt underneath and blue pants with black shoes. His hair was blond and spiky, divided by a miniature blue hat he always wore.

His assailant, one Helga G. Pataki, was a... well, spunky may be the best way to put it, nine year old female who was currently and always seemed to be wearing a pink dress with a red stripe over a white shirt and her blonde hair in two pigtails. She, among all others, was known for having a terrible attitude and a mean streak as long as her unibrow.

"Ah, shut it, Football Head!" Helga retorted. "It's the only thing to do on this stupid field trip. Criminy! You'd think there'd be something to do on this stupid trip!" Arnold gave an annoyed sigh and turned back to face the front. It was bad enough this trip was taking a whole week of his time but Helga had to pester him every step of the way.

"But there is always something to do," Helga's right hand girl, Phoebe, said.

"I'm not like you, Pheebs," Helga argued. "I can't just look at scenery and be entertained."

"Somehow I doubt that," Phoebe said with a teasing tone. Helga had the decency to look out the window instead of trying to argue against that.

"I just wish _something _would happen," Helga groaned. Just then, as if by some twist of fate, the bus started to bounce wildly, as though it were riding over a rocky road, before the driver slammed on the breaks, bringing the vehicle to a stop just before a small explosion sounded in front of the bus.

"What happened?" Mr. Simmons questioned in a panic. The bus driver shrugged and left the bus, coming back several moments later.

"Not only are the wheels blown, so is the engine," the driver gruffly stated. Mr. Simmons immediately turned to the students starting to uproar to try and placate them.

"Okay class," Simmons began, "we're going to have to find a place to stay until some help can arrive and fix the bus. For now, though, everyone off the bus." The class filed out rather quickly, most of them eager to see just where they broke down in. The bus had broken down on a road just on a cliff.

Past the railings, a sea of treetops was visible. Upon walking out, however, one particular student froze just as she stepped off the bus and stared off into the distance. She was a redhead, with her red hair in two braided tails that went down from either side of her head. She wore a green dress over a green plaid shirt.

"Lila!" Arnold called as he walked over to her. Lila shifted her gaze to her approaching classmate. "What's wrong?" Lila's gaze returned to the distance as she seemed to be staring off into the treetops. Her eyes appeared glazed over, almost like she were in some sort of trance.

"I'm not sure," Lila finally said after a few moments of silence. "It almost feels like, something is calling to me. Telling me to go toward it. It's soft, but ever so sweet." Arnold followed her line of sight in sheer confusion, finding nothing calling to him, until he focused. In the back of his mind, he could hear a small voice calling to him.

"Come to us, Arnold," it said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Arnold and Lila unconsciously walked toward the railing keeping the cars from falling off the cliff, both finding the voice irresistible. They leaned as far as they could over it, almost trying to see if they could hear it better. They could.

"Hey Arnold!" Came the voice of Helga as she too, ended up following Arnold and Lila to the rail. "Hey! Arnoldo!" Helga kept calling to no avail. It seemed as though he were lost to the world around him. "Football Head! Hello!" Still no response. It wasn't long, however, until she too heard the voice. It almost seemed, entrancing, pulling her into another world entirely. It was weird, yes, but not unwelcome. A shrill cry, however, brought everyone out of their stupor.

"AH!" Lila cried as she fell over the railing and barely managed to grab onto the edge of the cliff. Arnold crawled under and grabbed Lila's hand just as she lost her grip, almost sending him over the edge as well if not for Helga grabbing his legs. However, the ground below her gave well, sending all three of them tumbling into the thick foliage and into blackness. Sadly, no one would notice they'd disappeared until long after.

The three opened their eyes to find themselves surrounded by trees. Lila was the first to get to her feet and face a direction, still unspeaking, still unmoving. Arnold rose next and helped Helga to her feet.

"Is everyone okay?" Arnold asked.

"I'm fine, Football Head!" Helga said.

"Lila?" Lila said nothing. She simply kept staring.

"Lila! Are you still alive?" Helga shouted.

"Huh?" Lila questioned as she seemed to snap out of her self imposed trance. She turned to see Arnold and Helga staring at her quizzically. "What happened?"

"You've been staring in the same direction since you got up," Arnold explained. "Are you alright?" Lila put her hand on her forehead.

"I don't know," Lila said. "Ever since we got here I've had an ever so odd feeling about this place. It's like a feeling that I should be going somewhere."

"I know what you're talking about," Arnold reluctantly admitted. "It's faint but there's gotta be something wrong here."

"Criminy! You're both nuts! There's nothing wrong with this place! This place is just a forest! It's like saying that you see the Easter Bunny in your closet! Or that you see Santa Claus in your fridge! It's just nuts!" Helga yelled. Helga was brought out of her short rant when she realized that she was alone. Arnold and Lila had walked away just as Helga began her rant. Seconds after realizing she was alone, Helga darted off after Arnold and Lila. She eventually caught up with the two as they walked down a dirt path through the trees. "So, where exactly are we going?"

"Right now we have to look for a way back to the class. This seems to be the right way since the bus was starting to go downhill," Arnold stated.

"So, your whole plan is, 'Follow the path to the road and then follow the road back up'?" Helga asked. Arnold nodded. "I stand by what I said, you are _crazy_! What makes you think that'll work?"

"It's the only option we have right now, Helga," Arnold said. Helga scoffed but nothing more as she continued following the two. The path began to wind slightly, leading the three students to a small cemetery, just as a fog began to roll in.

"And now there's a fog and we're in a cemetery," Helga groaned. "What's next? Eerie music is going to start playing?"

"You know, Helga," Arnold finally raised his voice, "you complaining isn't helping matters!"

"Oh yeah, Football Head? I don't see you doing anything productive to remedy the situation!"

"I'm trying to figure out how to get out of here!"

"Fat lot of good it did us! Now we're lost and we can't even see the road!" Helga and Arnold were now right in each other's faces, glaring the other down with a look that could send a man six feet underground. Aggravated, Arnold looked away to see that Helga was right. The fog was thick, so thick that viewing anything below the knee was impossible. Some of the tombstones were nigh unreadable. For one reason or another, Arnold felt the desire to read one of them.

"Here lies Martin Smuck," Arnold read, "shot to death and we don't give a– what does that say?" The fog conveniently covered the last word. The trio glanced around worriedly, trying to see if anything they could find could potentially be used to find their way out of the fog and back to the road. Unfortunately for them, the fog was showing no signs of leaving and getting thicker with every passing second.

"Arnold! Helga! Look!" Lila shouted, pointing toward a shadowy figure wobbling away in the fog.

"Should we follow it?" Arnold questioned.

"Oh no! No way! I am _not_ following some random shadowy figure that _hobbled_ away into the fog!" Helga cried. Three minutes later, Arnold, Lila _and_ Helga were following the path the figure had taken. "I _can't_ believe I am following some random shadowy figure that hobbled away into the fog!"

"Quit complaining, Helga! It might be someone that could help us!" Following the figure, they found themselves standing in front of a small town. The town appeared rustic, seeming to have been from the early to mid 1950's. It was small, perhaps not beyond a mile in any direction. What surprised them all however, was the name of the town. On a sign just in front of the first building several words were inscribed. 'Welcome to Silent Hill'.

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><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Zero: How is this going to work exactly?**

**Me: When it comes to Hey Arnold!, three characters have the most to deal with. Those are Arnold, Helga and Lila.**

**Zero: Lila? Are you nuts?**

**Me: Nope, it's all Word of God here. According to the creator she has a seriously repressed dark side.**

**Rendan: And that's what Silent Hill's all about. Forcing people to recognize their inner darkness and accept it.**

**Me: Damn right. Anyway, that'll do it for this time. Be good and be safe everyone! I'm outta here!**


	2. Journey into Hell

**Me: Yo!**

**Rendan: Dear Christ! You're still alive!**

**Zero: It's a miracle!**

**Me: Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't updated much. I got a job and now that's taking up a good portion of my time.**

**Zero: Delays delays delays.**

**Me: Indeed. Anyone want the disclaimer?**

**Rendan: I'll do it. Azard doesn't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. All he owns are the OCs that will reappear later.**

**Zero: Reappear?**

**Rendan: These are the Blackadder Chronicles after all. We'll be seeing our favorite crazy people reappearing at some point.**

**Me: Thanks Rendan. Anyway, read and enjoy.**

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Journey into Hell<span>

"Silent Hill," Arnold repeated after looking at the sign.

"What kind of moron names their town Silent Hill?" Helga questioned.

"I think the name's ever so endearing. It sounds like a peaceful place," Lila added.

"Ah, peace shmeace, where's the action?" Helga asked. Arnold groaned and walked into the fog covered town, Lila and Helga followed close behind. The trio walked down the main street, keeping an eye out for the figure that led them there. There was no sign of it, however, something else suddenly became visible.

"B-b-blood!" Lila shrieked. Arnold and Helga immediately stopped and looked down only to see a large splatter of blood seemingly spread out in the middle of the street. The worst part about it, the blood appeared to be freshly spilled.

"Peaceful huh?" Helga taunted. "Yeah, because fresh blood splatter is _exactly_ what I think about when I think of something peaceful."

"Shut it, Helga!" Arnold shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

"Finally you're talking sense, Football Head!" They turned on their heels and ran for the woods, only to run into the fog and somehow exit again at the start of Silent Hill's main street. "We're back?"

"We never turned around," Lila stated weakly. "We only ran forward."

"Just great!" Helga groaned. "Now there's no way out! Great job, Arnoldo! Now we can't leave because you just _had_ to follow a shadowy figure! Now what?" Arnold took several deep breaths, seemingly trying to calm himself down at realizing that they were trapped.

"There has to be a way out of here," Arnold finally stated, less than confident about his assumption. "If we were able to get in, there has to be a way out... there has to be." Helga was speechless. It was the first time she'd ever seen Arnold so unsure of himself. Any other time there seemed to be some type of ludicrous or seemingly outlandish story Arnold told, regardless of the fact it was always true, he stuck to his story with absolute certainty. Seeing him like this was beyond a shock.

This wasn't just some story that sounded ludicrous and falsified. This was a horrifying experience. Obviously there was something wrong here, something deadly wrong and there seemed to be no escape. For all they knew, this place could end up being their graves and, from the look of the main road, that seemed more than likely.

'What could possibly have done this?' Lila thought as her eyes remained glued to the blood. It was disturbing to say the very least to see something like that in a peaceful looking place, at least at first it was. Lila found herself unable to move again, this time out of fear. In her mind, she could only fathom a guess that whatever had done that had to have been some type of monster. If she only knew how right she was.

"Okay, I've got it," Arnold finally said, slowly regaining his confidence. "We should at least explore the area. Chances are we'll find something that may help us get out of this place."

"And what about that?" Helga asked pointing to the blood. Arnold took a good look at it and sighed.

"Let's hope we never run into what made that."

"And if we do?"

"We run away... as fast as we can."

"Simple and easy to follow... I like it. Well, let's get moving. If whatever did _that_ is still around I don't want to be out in the open."

"Right! Let's go." The two of them turned to walk away before Arnold noticed Lila hadn't moved. "Lila! Let's go!" Lila shook her head and snapped out of her trance once more. She turned to follow her classmates, though it seemed they had no idea where to go.

As they walked around they noticed something strange. There was no wind that blew through the town and the fog never seemed to lift. It was like this town remained as it was, a permanent lock in time and space. They turned off the main road and headed down one of the smaller streets, hopefully to find a place of temporary refuge. They found one in the only home that had its front door unlocked.

"Someone in this town is going around killing people and someone is stupid enough to leave their front door unlocked?" Helga questioned. This was crazy, ludicrous even. "Who the heck's that stupid?"

"Does it matter at this point?" Arnold asked. Helga stayed silent. He did have a point. Getting into the house could very well have saved their lives from a maniac. They looked around the house for anything that could help them either figure out where they should be going or what to do.

"Hey, Football Head! Take a look at this!" Helga called from a separate room. She walked into the living room holding a small hand radio. "I haven't seen one of these in ages. No one really uses them anymore."

"Does it work?" Arnold inquired. Helga shrugged and switched it on, getting no signal, no noise, no anything.

"Guess not."

"Hey, what's this?" Lila asked as she pulled out two papers that, for some reason, were hidden behind a television. Helga and Arnold walked over to her and took the papers. They were dated in month and day but not year. Arnold looked at the first paper.

_March 15th_

_ Our hardest efforts have finally come to fruition. God is slowly on Her way to us at last. However, our High Priestess, Dahlia, seems worried over something. Due to a former interference by one Travis Grady (though his interference didn't hinder our plans too much), Dahlia has decided not to take any more chances in regards to the safety and preservation of Her. Dahlia has demanded that we create a guardian of sorts to ensure the preservation and safety of God. A defender, guardian and protector to protect God and Her birth giver. Therefore, to that end, we are looking for any individual to take on such an important task. Hopefully, there will be no significant delays, as every second counts. If all goes accordingly we'll have our protector soon._

"A protector for God?" Arnold questioned.

"What is this crap?" Helga asked. "These people are crazy!"

"What exactly are they trying to gain?" Lila queried. Arnold said nothing and looked toward the second file.

_April 20th_

_ Our protector has finally been located. Thankfully, the boy is young so that he may be fully and quickly integrated into The Order without much issue, especially if he resists. We of the Sect of the Holy Woman give our thanks to God for this gift and shall not waste such an opportunity in acquiring Her guardian. With any luck he shall willingly submit to our will to ensure the greater good of all. All that we know is, no matter what he decides, we have a lot of work to do._

As the three looked away from the papers the radio started to emit sounds of static that only seemed to grow louder.

"Criminy! This thing's busted!" Helga shouted. Not a second later slamming sounds were erupting throughout the house. The sounds were originating from the back door. Someone was trying to break in! Finally, the door gave way and _it _entered. A creature neither Helga, Lila or Arnold had ever seen before. A grey, disgusting disfigured creature slightly smaller than they were with long arms. It held a knife in its right hand and looked around with its eyeless face before letting out a sickening screech and started stalking toward them.

"Run!" Arnold shouted as the three classmates ran out of the building as quickly as they could with the creature following closely behind them. "Do you think that thing was the one responsible for... you know?"

"If you wanna stay and find out, be my guest!" Helga shouted as they bolted into an alleyway and zigzagged through the paths, eventually losing the bloodthirsty monster. One thing they didn't fail to notice, as they got further away from the monster the static on the radio lowered in volume until it finally ceased. "What the heck was that thing?"

"I don't think I want to know," Lila said as she caught her breath. That had to have been the single scariest moment in her life. Hell, in all of their lives. "Now where are we supposed to go?"

"All I know is that this little radio is my new best friend," Helga stated as she affectionately rubbed the radio against her cheek. "What the heck did we just get ourselves involved in?"

"If I ever find out," Arnold began, "I'll tell you." They glanced around to see just where their path had taken them. In front of them was an old elementary school which, thankfully, had its doors unlocked. Thinking they could take refuge inside, the three headed inside and walked into the closest room, a classroom, to take a breather. Helga, feeling invasive, pulled open the drawers in the teachers desk and found a wooden slingshot with some marbles to use for ammo.

"Jackpot!" Helga shouted. Arnold, on the other hand, looked in the closet and found a metal baseball bat.

"This should help," Arnold mused. 'Hope it can last.' Lila was about to start searching when a siren sounded in the distance. What happened next would haunt the P.S. 118 students for the rest of their lives. What could only be described as a dream turned into a hellish nightmare.

The walls started to peel away, giving way to blood coated, gut encrusted walls. The desks were now covered in slash marks and had several inscriptions in blood written upon them. The chalkboard turned from a green color to a heartless black with a large, bloody, pus-filled hole in the center. Anything that could have been considered familiar was now a part of some type of nightmare world. The first thing Arnold noticed after the shock of what just happened faded was a set of two forms upon the teacher's bloody desk. He walked over and picked up the first one.

_May 15th_

_ As expected, the experiments were successful. We have accomplished what some of our members considered impossible. We've created a perfect guardian for God. It was difficult, but all worth it in the end. This will forever be the single greatest accomplishment our Order has made next to pushing the events forward to bring about Her return. Our creation is by far one of the strongest creatures to date. According to High Priestess Dahlia, no monster in the Fog World or the hellish Otherworld will be able to stand a chance against our guardian. With the guardian forever existing in the Otherworld, no enemy of ours will survive long enough to stop us or the birth of God! No words can ever truly express the pride we are currently feeling. Long live Her and long live The Order!_

Arnold gave the form a long terrified stare, figuring out where they currently were was most likely the Otherworld. If this form was accurate, there was no telling just how much danger they were currently in. It didn't get any less terrifying as he glanced at the second form.

_May 16th_

_ We have made a terrible mistake. A grievous error on our part. The guardian has seemed to retain his free will and will no doubt cause us untold aggravation and pain. I can only wonder just how badly this failure will hurt us. Thankfully, the guardian has not yet woken up and we can always kill him and start over. Thanks be to God for our foresight to retrieve some of that 'purification liquid' the doctor had. For his safety and the good work he does for us we will not tell Dahlia of this. He is one of the few outsiders we can trust to any extent. As for the liquid, all we have to do is pour it unto the protector and he'll be dealt with. Our brother has recently departed and we are awaiting his arrival with the liquid. Until then we can't afford to be caught off g–_

The rest of the form was covered in blood. Arnold's face turned a deathly pale as he stared at it, the blood filling him with more dread the longer his eyes lingered on it.

"Arnold?" Lila spoke up. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't think so, Lila," he answered truthfully. "I think we're in a lot of trouble." The three students prepared to face whatever was out there just as the radio began to act up again.

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><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: Aw hell, more static. What's going to show up this time?**

**Me: You'll have to wait and see.**

**Zero: Um, what the fuck appeared before? That grey thing?**

**Me: That's a Grey Child, a monster first born from the way Alessa Gillespie envisioned her classmates that tormented her. They came about as a result of her bullying, so anyone who's been bullied may be likely to see them.**

**Rendan: She must've had a fucked up life.**

**Me: Sad thing is she really did. Well that'll do it for this time. Be good and be safe everyone! I'm outta here!**


	3. An Angel in Hell?

**Me: Well, here's Chapter 3.**

**Zero: Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that twisted little mind of yours.**

**Rendan: Maybe it's best we don't question it, I mean if what happens there didn't happen we wouldn't exist.**

**Zero:... Er... yeah.**

**Me: Well, if you two are done acting like fools, let's get this one started.**

**Rendan: Right. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They belong to Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively.**

**Me: Thanks. Now, let the mindfuck begin!**

**Zero: He's lost it.**

**Me: Can't lose what you never had.**

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><p><span>Chapter 3: An Angel in Hell?<span>

Arnold, Helga and Lila ducked behind the teacher's desk and hid, taking only slight glances out of the spot to see what creature they would be dealing with this time. A pitch black, ghostly creature slowly walked through the open door. It had no defining features, save for its stubby legs and arms. It didn't even appear to have hands.

The creature glanced around before walking to the closet Arnold found his bat in before the shift and stared at it before letting out a pitiful, yet somehow adorable, squeak. The trio were about to walk out of their spots until they heard footsteps rapidly approaching and another figure appearing at the door. Only, this was another person.

It was a boy who appeared to be their age if not a year older and of caucasian descent. He wore a crudely altered military style vest that had a flashlight in one pocket and what looked like a knife handle sticking out of another. Under the vest he wore a nearly black shirt with dark jeans and black shoes. He had dark brown hair that reached his shoulders and hazel eyes that resembled a supernova with the way the green and brown meshed together. He followed the dark creature to the closet where it gave another squeak before vanishing into thin air. The radio's static decreased exponentially.

"Ugh," the boy groaned. "That's the _last _time I follow one of those things." He tried turning the doorknob only to receive a locked click in response. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small key before placing it into the lock and turning it. Without hesitation he opened the door and was tackled by a fleshless creature. Lila let out an ear piercing scream that startled everyone in the room. The tackled boy quickly pushed the creature off of him and leapt to his feet before... he sighed with relief. "Just another dead body." He shifted his gaze to see the three students all looking at him in some form of disbelief.

'How can he be so calm when a _dead body_ just fell on him?' Was the collective thought of the three P.S. 118 students. Choosing to ignore their startled beyond belief expressions, the boy walked into the closet and started rummaging through its contents.

"Health drink, health drink, first aid kit," he listed as he moved and shifted things around, "book about The Order, handgun bullets, necklace, key, school junk, useless junk..." As he continued his tirade, Arnold walked out from behind the desk and examined the dead body. The body itself seemed to have been crudely skinned with several gashes in its form as well as having several bones sticking out at random points. In its hand, however, was something of interest. Tightly clenched in its dead hand was a crumpled piece of paper. Arnold carefully removed it and read the contents.

_September 13th_

_ With the Guardian on the loose it seems our mistake is still hurting us. We've given him too much power as per our orders by Dahlia. Now nothing but the purification liquid can stop what we've created and the monsters themselves are too terrified to attack him. Either that or he is now somehow able to control them. Unfortunately, the liquid has become lost and Dr. Kaufmann says that he doesn't have the materials to make another batch. We may very well have created an unstoppable creature that will forever haunt Silent Hill, killing anyone as he sees fit. A few of our brothers have been found dead with their works only partially completed. One can only assume that the guardian has done this. We must always be careful, for one of his strongest abilities proves to be deeply troubling. It is what makes him a true guardian and protector. I fear we may never be able to destroy what we've created, the ultimate monster. For any of our brothers who may be reading this, be wary or the Guardian will find you. If he does, pray your death will be quick._

"Hey!" Helga called. "You with the vest!" Helga's call snapped everyone out of what they were doing. Well, almost everyone. The boy, apparently, didn't hear her and kept rummaging through the closet. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Again, she was ignored.

She was interrupted from her upcoming rant when the radio suddenly increased its static volume. A grey abomination like the one that first chased them entered the room, spurring Helga into acting. She pulled out a marble and loaded it before letting the projectile fly, smacking the monster in the middle of its deformed head. The creature staggered back slightly, giving Arnold the opportunity to run up and smash the creature in the head.

Arnold charged and cracked the creature across what would be its forehead and the abomination of nature hit the floor, hard. Arnold let out a quick sigh of relief, thinking the danger over. However, the volume of the static didn't falter and the creature rose to its feet. The boy quickly drew the knife from his vest and charged forward, slashing the creature across the throat before slamming the knife where the temple would be located. This time the static's volume fell to a dull roar, the creature fell and didn't get back up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The boy shouted as he turned to them. "What were you thinking?"

"We _thought_ we beat it!" Helga yelled back.

"Are you that damned stupid? If you're not going to go for the kill, you'd be better off running!" The boy wiped the blade of his knife with a bloody rag before he placed it back into his vest pocket. He quickly turned and kicked the dead creature for good measure.

"Are you saying we _have_ to kill these things?" Arnold shakily asked. The boy nodded gravely.

"It's the only way to make sure they can't get you. After a while, you won't be able to run anymore and when that happens, it's kill or be killed. It's a harsh lesson some people never learn."

"How long did it take you to learn?" Lila asked, more unsure and scared than the other two.

"All of one fight," he replied. "I beat the creature that attacked me to the ground but it kept getting back up until I hit it so many times it stopped moving entirely."

"What are we going to do now?"

"You're going to have to go through this place and fight your way out. Good luck. Some people never get out."

"How long have you been here, kid?" Arnold inquired. The boy raised his eyebrow at Arnold.

"First of all, my name's not 'Kid', it's AJ," the newly identified AJ said. The three students nodded. "As for your question, I have no idea. I've been here longer than I'd care to remember."

"Where'd you get the vest?" Helga questioned. AJ pointed to the dead body that fell on him before.

"Off of someone like him," was the serious reply. At the astonished look he received, AJ added, "Anything to survive in this place." There was a slight moment of silence between the four kids. "Well, time to get going." AJ turned and started to leave.

"Wait a sec," Arnold interrupted. "What are we going to do?"

"You mean you aren't coming with me?" AJ asked as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why would we do that?" Helga asked. AJ rolled his eyes and called her over.

"Look outside of the classroom," he simply said. Helga scowled at him but upon seeing he wouldn't back down she obliged. "Now do you see anything out there?"

"Yeah," Helga stated.

"What?"

"Darkness."

"Exactly. If you don't have one of these," AJ motioned to his flashlight, "you're pretty much walking around blind in a deathtrap. Since I'm the only one who has a flashlight _and _since you don't have one, your best bet is staying with me, at least until you get your own." Helga was about to say something but Arnold stopped her.

"I hate to say it, Helga, but I think he's right," Arnold said. "He knows this place better than we do and he could help us out."

"At least one of you has some common sense," AJ chuckled. "But don't let that go to your head. You can't trust everyone you meet in Silent Hill." AJ reached into his pocket and pulled out three health drinks before tossing one to each of the students. "Keep those in reserve. If anything happens, that'll help heal you." The three nodded as they followed AJ out of the room. They walked for a while in silence before Helga decided to break it.

"Why can't I have the flashlight?" Helga questioned. AJ chuckled.

"Well, the one who has the flashlight has to stay in front of the group, right?"

"Right."

"Some of the monsters here are attracted to light, so the person who has the light will _always_ be the first person targeted." Helga, the normally tough no-nonsense girl, audibly gulped. "Do you still want the flashlight?"

"No," Helga admitted. The four walked into a close by classroom to search for more clues. This classroom was just as hellish and disgusting as the one before. The main difference was that this room looked more like a science lab. Upon entering the room, the radio picked up on static again. Three grey creatures noticed the light and hobbled towards it.

AJ quickly pulled out his knife and charged the three, taking one of them out with a quick, precise stab to the temple. The other two attempted to latch onto him but were dodged when AJ leapt onto the lab table and kept the light on the two monsters. Arnold used their distraction to bash both of them in the back of the head, knocking the two to the floor. AJ jumped to the floor and quickly slit the throats of the two creatures, once more dropping the static on the radio to a dull roar.

"Damn Grey Children," AJ sighed.

"Grey Children?" Arnold inquired.

"That's what The Order calls them. I don't know if that's what they're actually called but it's better than nothing." There was enough light in the room for each of the four to conduct their own investigation of the area. Helga checked the teacher's desk, Lila and Arnold checked the lab tables and AJ checked the closet in the rear of the room. "So what brought you kids to Silent Hill?"

"If we ain't allowed to call you 'Kid' than you can't call us that!" Helga shouted indignantly. "You're the same age as us!" AJ chuckled.

"Fair enough. What am I supposed to call you three?"

"Our names!" Helga yelled. AJ shook his head, the smile never leaving his face.

"And those would be...?" Arnold put his head into his left palm, remembering that AJ was technically the only one who introduced himself.

"I'm Helga," Helga began before pointing to the other two respectively, "that's Arnold and she's _Lila_." The unique emphasis Helga put on Lila's name was not under anyone's radar. They all heard it.

"Okay, then, what brings you three here?"

"We fell off a cliff after our bus broke down," Lila said. "We kept walking, looking for a way back to them but we got lost in the fog. Then we saw a figure walking in some direction and followed it. That's what led us here."

"I hate to tell you this but you were trapped the second you walked into the fog. The Fog World is where everyone gets trapped and some stay for the rest of their lives."

"Why?"

"The fog is the first sign that Silent Hill now has its hold on you. Anyway, it's best not to think about that. Right now, finding a way out is the top priority."

"What exactly would we be looking for?" Arnold questioned. AJ shrugged.

"I don't really know. What I _do_ know is we're not going to get anywhere by staying in one spot. We're going to have to check out the entire town eventually." Arnold checked inside the desks not to much avail. Nothing in there seemed usable, let alone helpful. While searching the opposite side of the room Lila came across a file inside a glass cabinet. She cautiously reached into the cabinet and removed the file. Curious, she checked its contents.

_April 23rd_

_ One of the students disappeared today. They say it was a kidnapping. According to his parents he arrived home yesterday and disappeared at some point during the night. No one saw this coming. Poor boy only moved here a few days ago and now he's gone. I swear, things keep getting worse and worse around here. Come to think of it, the cult has been more active as of late and that only happened when he moved to town. The Order has to be behind this, too bad they always go unpunished. Sometimes it's like every official here is a member of that damned cult. Maybe they are. Strange that all of this should happen just over a year after Alessa Gillespie died. Maybe there's something bigger going on... I just wish I knew what._

Lila pocketed the note and continued looking, finding a first aid kit just underneath the hanging cabinet. Helga and Arnold found very little, a health drink at best, though Helga found some more marbles just underneath the teacher's desk. Seeing nothing more to do there, they left the room and walked back into the grated hallway. Several dead bodies laid spread out on the wall and in the middle of the hallway.

The four decided it was best to head out and look in a different place for the time being, however reluctantly they agreed to it. If the Otherworld was like this _inside _a building, what was it like outside? Luckily, they weren't about to find out as a siren blared loudly.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that'll do it for this time.<strong>

**AJ: So, this is the role I'm playing this time around.**

**Rendan: Well, this is the Blackadder Chronicles after all.**

**Me: Indeed, though your role is more of support this time around.**

**AJ: I can live with that. Besides, none of them could survive in Silent Hill on their own without a little 'guidance'.**

**Zero: They're only 9 for fuck's sake!**

**AJ: So? When the world crumbles around you and hell breaks loose, your true character will be tested. Time to see if they pass.**

**Me: This is only the beginning. There is some growing that needs to be done. Well, like it or not, it's here and this is the way it's going.**

**Rendan: Well, I think that's going to do it for this week.**

**Me: Indeed. Be good and be safe everyone, I'm outta here! **


	4. Separated

**Me: And here's Chapter 4.**

**Zero: About time we see what happens after that fucking siren went off.**

**Me: Do you honestly believe I'd let you guys hang for long?**

**Everyone else: Yes.**

**Me: -sweat drop- Well excuse me for having real life issues...**

**Rendan: It happens. Can we please just get this one going?**

**Me: Of course. I don't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are owned by Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. All I own are the OCs, the monsters I've created and the plot.**

**Bear: Woah woah woah! You've created monsters?**

**Me: It's part of the Silent Hill franchise. For everyone in there, there are monsters representing their psyche. So, yeah, there will be monsters of my own creation in this too. One of em you're going to see this chapter.**

**Rendan: Okay, let's just start this one up. Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4: Separated<span>

Silence. That's all there was for a moment. Arnold was the first to open his eyes to see himself on the floor in the middle of the fog covered street. There was no blood on the floor, though the fog was considerably thick. He wasn't too surprised that he'd woken up in the middle of the street. What surprised him was that he still had the metal bat and the form from the dead body in his possession. Helga wasn't too far off, sleeping almost calmly next to him. Lila, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found.

Arnold quickly grabbed the radio in Helga's hand and checked it. Still on and there was no static, something he didn't fail to notice. He was thankful for that much. In the Otherworld the radio seemed to always have some type of dull roar of static that never shut off. After placing the radio back in Helga's hand, Arnold shook her in an attempt to wake her up.

"Ugh," Helga groaned as she reached up and rubbed her head. "What do you want, Pheebs?" Then she realized where she was and _who_ had woken her up. "Wait a second? What happened?"

"Long story short," Arnold began, "we fell off a cliff, got trapped in a ghost town, visited a nightmare world and now we're in the middle of the road back in the fog."

"You mean that wasn't just a dream?" Helga shouted. Arnold shook his head sadly. Helga glanced in her hand that didn't hold the radio and saw the slingshot she found still gripped within it. "What the heck is wrong with this place?"

"It gets worse," Arnold stated.

"How could it get any worse?" Helga asked. Arnold took a good look around.

"Well, for starters, we're short two people."

"Huh?" Helga glanced around to see that Lila and their new ally had vanished. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know," Arnold answered. "For all I know they could still be in the Otherworld."

"Dang... I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"Me either," Arnold said lowly as he rose to his feet. "We've got to keep moving. With any luck we'll find something we could use to help us out."

"Good idea, Football Head, but where are we supposed to go?" Arnold shook his head.

"We should at least check out a few houses, maybe we'll find Lila on the way."

"If she's still in that Otherworld place I don't envy her," Helga stated as the two walked toward the nearest house. Arnold nodded his agreement as the two entered a rustic home.

(Location: Lila)

Elsewhere, the scent of burning wood reached Lila's nostrils. She shot up almost immediately to find herself in a bed in some unfamiliar room. By the looks of it, she was in a small cabin. She quickly checked herself to find everything was intact and she was unharmed. Had she been saved by a good samaritan? Lila glanced around to see signs of anyone she knew but to no avail. She was alone.

Looking around the room she noticed a closed window next to the bed. It simply seemed to be closed to keep the heat coming from the fireplace in. She glanced toward the fireplace to find a small but very manageable fire burning, lighting the small cabin more than efficiently and providing added warmth. The idea of a roaring fire soothed her some, until she looked next to the bed.

On the bedside table next to her bed laid a combat knife. It was clean, but the idea that a weapon would be so close to her greatly unnerved the terrified redhead. Suddenly, the thought of a good samaritan saving her seemed terrifyingly impossible. She nearly shot out of the bed as the doorknob to the cabin door started to shake and jerk. Instead of jumping out, she quickly slid off to the side to get a good hiding position behind the bed in case something should go wrong.

She tried lifting the window so she could crawl out with no result. The window was locked. She came into the realization that she was perfectly trapped. Trapped between the locked window and whoever was at the door. Hesitant, she grabbed the knife and held it close to her. She didn't know if she could ever bring herself to kill with it but a wound that could enable her to escape a potential fate worse than death was good enough. The doorknob proceeded jerking with no signs of stopping. Apparently whatever was trying to get in had very little coordination.

Lila started breathing heavily, her fear fully taking effect. She remembered the small grey monster that chased her, Arnold and Helga to the school and the same creature that... Her heart nearly stopped. What had happened to her friends? Had the grey creatures killed them? Did they escape somehow and if so, where were they?

What happened to the boy that saved them in the school? Was he missing or was he murdered as well? Did he escape? Was she about to die here? Who or what was coming for her? Was there any way she could escape? All these questions raced through her mind as her fear reached its peak.

The door finally opened. From behind the bed Lila could make out the dark pants the figure wore. Based on what Lila could see she could tell the individual was a male. The individual had stacks of wood in his arms and they blocked her view of the upper part of his body including his face. He was a fair distance away but his body reeked of sweat. This person had been working very hard lately. Lila ducked behind the bed and closed her eyes tightly, not feeling confident in taking down the opposing figure. The figure walked inside, hobbled toward the fireplace and dropped the wood next to it. After he dropped the load he glanced around to see his red haired 'companion' was nowhere in sight and, from the looks of it, she had his knife.

The figure glanced toward the beds, noticing that the bed Lila had been placed in was recently disturbed. That pointed to one thing, since he hadn't heard the door open, she hadn't left and was still inside the cabin somewhere. He moved cautiously, checking the corners of each area making sure she couldn't get the drop on him. This person was well aware of what an individual was capable of when trapped.

He moved silently throughout the cabin, eventually getting to where the beds were. Readying himself, he climbed upon the first bed to see her cowering with his knife held close to her chest. He was right. She had been waiting for him... in some sense of the word anyway. Smiling, he backed off the way he came and spoke to her from in front of the fireplace.

"So you finally woke up," he said. Lila's eyes shot open. She recognized that voice! It was one she heard very recently. In the Otherworld, in fact.

"AJ?" Lila questioned, a tremble present in her voice. She still wasn't one hundred percent sure it was him and kept the knife close.

"It's okay, there's no one else here. You can come out from behind the bed." Feeling embarrassed, Lila looked up from behind the bed to see AJ standing in front of the fireplace. She sighed with great relief and placed his knife back on the bedside table. She turned back to him, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry!" Lila cried. "I was ever so scared!" Lila ran to him and suddenly tackle hugged him. If he hadn't readied himself after seeing her running toward him he would have fell. Instead he just stood there with a terrified redhead who had her arms wrapped around him and was crying into his chest.

AJ blinked. He _definitely_ hadn't expected that. Did she feel the need to apologize for preparing to defend herself? She didn't seem all that ready to fight if it came down to that. It was certainly something he'd have to help her with.

"What are you sorry for? You were scared and you picked up whatever was available to defend yourself. There's no reason to be sorry." Lila didn't lessen her grip around his chest. For whatever reason, he felt the urge to rub her back in order to ensure her that everything was okay, though every fiber of common sense in his brain told him not to. He settled for standing there as Lila unleashed any pent up fear into his shirt, eventually causing his shirt to become wet with tears. She eventually calmed down and released him before sitting on the bed she'd been laying in.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. AJ glanced down at his vest and shirt and grinned.

"Well, that's not exactly how I'd planned to bathe but I guess that'll do," he joked. "And don't apologize for that. I'd planned to jump in the lake anyway."

"The lake?" Lila questioned. "What lake?"

"Toluca Lake. The only lake in Silent Hill. It's actually a very famous tourist spot around here. Most people stay in the hotel while some prefer to stay in the cabins," AJ explained. "Usually there's a beautiful view of the lake but because of the fog..." He trailed off, his mind having seemingly gone off track somehow.

"What happened after we heard that siren?"

"I woke up," AJ said. "We were in front of the hotel and you were still unconscious. I picked you up and carried you here before putting you in the bed and starting a fire. I was just outside cutting more wood for the fire."

"Did you see Arnold or Helga?" AJ shook his head. "If we were by the hotel, why didn't you just go in there?"

"Monsters still exist in the Fog World, Lila. There are more places for them to hide in the hotel than in this cabin and I checked this place out before I put you in the bed. There are no monsters around here... yet. So I suggest we move on when you're ready." Lila nodded and stretched herself out. She picked up the combat knife and handed it to AJ.

They doused the fire and walked outside, where AJ grabbed a small one handed hatchet from a stump that he'd apparently used to chop the firewood. The two walked toward the lake and AJ jumped in. After a moment of pseudo washing he came back out drenched before shaking himself dry, unintentionally hitting Lila with some of the ice cold water. He glanced at his knife and then to Lila before holding it out to her. She stared at him in no small amount of confusion.

"Why–?"

"You're going to need something to defend yourself with. That knife is light and can be swung very quickly. With a little training you'll be able to defend yourself from any monster that comes your way."

"I- I don't know if I–"

"Yes, you can." Reluctantly, Lila took the blade. "Now let's move on."

"Where are we going to go?"

"We shouldn't stay around here. If we're by ourselves we're going to need a radio. The static it emits will alert us of any monsters that are close by. The best chance we have is to search the police station."

"Okay," Lila stated. "Lead the way." They were about to turn before a loud screech reached their ears. A creature came hobbling out of the fog toward Lila. The creature appeared to be a humanoid. It had skin the color of dried blood, no eyes but a large, gaping mouth filled with teeth of varying sharpness. Some appeared to be dull with others razor sharp.

It was hunched over slightly, giving it a more somber or depressed quality. Its right hand appeared to be pointed into a fine blade while it's left hand seemed to be shaped in the form of some type of club. The one major off putting thing was that its club-like hand appeared to be pulsating. Almost like a beating heart. Lila froze, petrified, in her spot. AJ rushed the creature and attempted to slam the blade of the hatchet into the creature's head only to be hit in the chest and knocked back by its club hand.

AJ jumped to his feet and reengaged the creature, this time staying at a distance. The monster swung both its arms to attack in rapid succession, giving AJ very little opportunity to counter or strike. AJ finally managed to maneuver into the swing and cut the creature's right arm completely off its body. From there he dodged the creature's next attack and severed the left arm. He leg swept the beast and finally brought the hatchet down, taking off the monster's head, its mouth still snapping for a moment before it ceased all movement. AJ breathed heavily.

"I've never seen a creature like that before," AJ mused. "What in the world was that?" He turned to Lila to see her trembling in her place. "Are you alright?" Lila slowly got out of her fearful expression enough to nod her head. He walked over to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go." Lila nodded almost solemnly. They quickly looked back at the dead creature before they walked off.

(Location: Helga and Arnold)

Back with Helga and Arnold, the two had gone through several homes without much to show for it. They hadn't found anything particularly of use except some more marbles for Helga to use as ammo. Arnold mainly looked for any documents that could provide information as to what is wrong with the town they were trapped in. Helga, on the other hand, was going crazy trying to find a flashlight of some kind. Even a standard, handheld flashlight was impossible to find.

They left the house and walked over to a small diner that seemed to appear on the opposite side of the main road. Deciding they needed a small break, they walked inside only to find it completely deserted. Although, one thing had Helga jumping for joy. On the counter of the diner was a small flashlight with a clip. She happily grabbed it and clipped it to the top of her dress.

"Finally!" Helga shouted.

"I thought you didn't want a flashlight after what AJ told you," Arnold said. Glancing to the side he spotted a small map on a table and picked it up. 'We'll need this in the future.'

"As long as he ain't around, Football Head, we're going to need to be able to see where we're going!"

"I hope you're ready for whatever comes your way with that flashlight acting like a beacon."

"Oh, I'll be ready, Arnoldo. _That_ you can be sure of." The two of them were brought out of their tirade when the radio suddenly picked up static and progressively got louder. Helga and Arnold didn't waste any time and ran out of the diner like their lives depended on it. After a few minutes of running, the radio's static died down, indicating their safety. When the two of them looked around, they found themselves in front of a church.

Not knowing what else to do, they walked inside. The church was completely empty. The pews were empty and dusty, appearing as if they hadn't been occupied in years. Despite the amount of time that must have passed evident by the collecting dust, everything appeared to be in perfect condition, an impossibility brought to life. There was no mold on the wooden pews, no rust on the candlesticks and no cobwebs to be seen. Only the dust seemed to be any indication that time had passed. The duo walked up to the altar, locating a few health drinks and an artifact neither had ever seen before. It appeared to be a triangular box, if its design was anything to go by. A three-dimensional triangle sitting on the alter for no reason.

Arnold, being the curious boy he was, picked up the object and examined it closely. There appeared to be nothing suspicious about the pyramid, just a solid object that, for whatever reason, was sitting in an empty church. Even stranger, unlike everything else in the church, there was no dust on the triangular object. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice told Arnold that this object would be very important later. Not knowing what else to do, he pocketed the strange pyramid.

"Let's go," Arnold simply said.

"Where?" Helga questioned.

"Anywhere but here. We should try to find a town hall or something. They should at least have some information about this place." Helga nodded and the two walked out of the church toward their next destination.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that'll do it.<strong>

**Rendan: Well, guess we're going to have to wait to see what happens next.**

**Zero: If he continues doing this, I'm going to go crazy.**

**Me: If I continue doing what?**

**Zero: There always seems to be several unanswered questions in your chapters.**

**Me: That's just how I work. The things that happen, most often, are INTENTIONAL. Sure, I'll make a few mistakes here and there but the majority is intentional.**

**Rendan: Most mistakes, if any, are simply grammatical or spelling based, right?**

**Me: That's right. Plot wise, everything that occurs is intentional. Besides, it's no fun if there's no food for thought. Also, for everything that is, there is a reason behind it.**

**Zero: Guess that'll do it for this time?**

**Me: Damn right. Be good and be safe everyone, I'm outta here!**


	5. The Executioner Appears

**Me: Chapter 5 is up.**

**Zero: You've been updating this one quite a lot.**

**Rendan: Well, Silent Hill appeals to his psychotic nature. It helps his muse greatly.**

**Zero: Shit, I'm not complaining. I happen to like the bloody scenes.**

**Me: Well, I'm glad I have your approval.**

**Zero: All right, I'll handle the disclaimer.**

**Rendan: Here we go again.**

**Zero: Shut up! Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are owned by Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. The only things he owns are his OCs, the plot, and the monsters he creates.**

**Me: It's been a while since you did that.  
><strong>

**Zero: And it feels good to finally do it.**

**Rendan: Correctly, I might add.**

**Zero: Shut up, dammit!  
><strong>

**Me: Anyway, read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5: The Executioner Appears<span>

Lila and AJ continued following the path adjacent to the lake until they reached the main part of the town. Several buildings appeared boarded up, their open doors boarded up by multiple planks. Those not boarded up were locked or the locks were broken far beyond what could be repaired. In short, Silent Hill was something akin to a ghost town at this point... a ghost town filled with monsters, anyway.

The duo proceeded on until they stood in front of the Silent Hill Police Station. The building appeared to be much like the others with its construction appearing to be somewhere near the early fifties or even earlier. However akin to the other buildings it appeared, showing no age or sign of former habitation other than a few doors being boarded up, it stood out in that its primary door was slightly ajar.

"Someone's been through here," AJ stated gravely. Lila glanced toward her companion.

"Isn't that a good thing?" She questioned.

"Not exactly. Silent Hill isn't exactly a place where everyone you meet can be trusted."

"Why do you say that?" Lila examined her companion only to find his eyes had become fixed into a silent fury directed into the abyss that was the Fog World. His hands were balled up into fists, his body became tense and he began to breathe angrily. Lila backed up slightly, fearful that her questions had somehow angered him. After a moment of silence, AJ visually relaxed gave her a sidelong glance.

"Experience," he said with a venomous tone. "That's why I'm here in the first place. Someone I thought I could trust betrayed me. Then this place called out to me and here I am." Lila nodded, still slightly afraid of what an obviously combat trained individual would do if and when angered and there was certainly one of those individuals currently in her company. "Don't worry about it, let's keep moving."

AJ walked over to the ajar metal door and eased it open slowly, getting a loud creak from the rusty hinges. He peeked inside and walked in before motioning for Lila to follow. She kept her pace even with his, walking only a foot or so behind him.

The station was quiet, a factor that, on its own, made Lila feel uneasy. The very idea that a normal beacon of safety could be inhabited by the creatures that chased her and her friends through the streets of Silent Hill, what seemed like, an hour ago was far from unsettling. By the computer on a receptionist's desk was a map of the building, something that would certainly be useful. Lila walked over and retrieved it as a precaution.

They followed the only hallway that led to the rest of the building. The first rooms the two encountered were offices of lower level officers. Lila checked the rooms only to find a majority of them locked. The only door open led into a room that was, for lack of a better word, destroyed.

The chair was knocked over and pushed toward a filing cabinet on the back left of the room. The desk was split in two with one end lying on its side and the other was turned upside down. Several drawers were sprawled across the floor, all of them lying on a pool of dried blood. Lila tried her hardest not to recoil in disgust at the amount of blood and even harder not to faint on the spot.

She had never seen this amount before even in her most horrible of nightmares but was now dealing with a very real living nightmare. Behind the desk was another mutilated body, this one split in half vertically, giving both kids a view on the inner workings of the human body. The body appeared to have been split in half by a large weapon of some kind. Hanging on one of the body's ribs was a rusty old key on a string. AJ retrieved the key and took a good long look at it.

"A key?" Lila asked incredulously. That was _certainly_ not what she'd expected to find on... _in_ a dead body.

"I've found stranger," AJ commented, smartly keeping the fact that he'd found his knife inside of a dead body's stomach a secret. "Come on, let's go to the Chief's office. There should be something there we can use." They walked out of the room and continued on. AJ lead the way almost effortlessly through the station, never once stopping to check the map they'd picked up at the receptionist's desk. Lila was slightly shocked that he'd had such an extensive knowledge of the station.

'Has he been here before?' Lila thought as they walked up to the second floor of the station and toward the front. They walked toward the door with 'Chief's Office' scrawled on the door. They paused momentarily only to hear a loud static erupting from the room. AJ jiggled the doorknob only to find that the door was locked. He pulled out the key and unlocked the door before he opened it to face the monstrosity waiting for them inside.

Elsewhere, Arnold and Helga were making their way toward the Town Hall, keeping a sensitive ear for any static that would suddenly assault their ears. They crossed over a slightly decrepit bridge. Parts of it had fallen off and into the river below and the cracks that most likely caused the fall were still evident and had spread to a good portion of the bridge. Arnold kept his eyes glued to the map, taking careful steps to make sure they headed in the correct direction. Helga, on the other hand was getting disturbed by the silence.

"Hey Football Head, how about you say something?" Helga asked. Arnold looked at her quizzically. "It's too quiet around here. At least some talking would help calm my nerves. At least static suddenly coming from the radio will be one hundred times less freaky if there was some sort of noise going on."

"The quiet's getting to you." It was a statement, not a question.

"That and the fog. It's so thick I can barely see three feet in front of me." Arnold let out a small chuckle, further annoying Helga.

"All right then. What do you want to talk about?"

"Those notes you found in the school," Helga began. "What were they about?" Arnold glanced downward as the color once again drained from his face at the memory of what he'd read.

"You saw the note that said The Order was looking to create a guardian right?" Helga nodded. "Well, the first paper was one of them saying they'd succeeded. They created quite possibly the strongest monster to exist in Silent Hill. According to The Order, no monster in either the Fog World or Otherworld should be able to stand against him. They'd apparently gone all out in making the ultimate protector."

"Criminy," Helga breathed out. "What about the second?" Arnold's face became more pale.

"The second paper was cut off at one point. Blood blocked out a good portion of the note, or what I think was a good portion. The Order realized that in creating the Guardian, he'd retained his own free will. They knew he'd become a problem and sent someone to retrieve some kind of 'purification liquid' so they could kill him and start over. But apparently he got loose and killed them all."

"Leave it to a stupid cult to make a mistake like that."

"The last form was what terrified me the most. That body that fell out of the closet was probably an Order member that the Guardian found and killed. It basically said that only the 'purification liquid' can kill him now. They think they've created a literally unstoppable creature since the liquid went missing and it kills anyone it wants to." Arnold pulled out the form he'd pocketed. "This part worries me the most. 'We must always be careful, for one of his strongest abilities proves to be deeply troubling. It is what makes him a true guardian and protector. I fear we may never be able to destroy what we've created, the ultimate monster. For any of our brothers who may be reading this, be wary or the Guardian will find you. If he does, pray your death will be quick.' Honestly, if it's that bad, we really are walking in a deathtrap."

"How can it possibly get any worse?" Helga shouted.

"In one way. The Order believes the monsters are either too afraid to attack the Guardian, or in some way he's learned to control them."

"So the Guardian could be sending the monsters to kill us?"

"That seems to be the case but maybe we can avoid him if we're careful enough," Arnold mused.

"I hope we can. I'd hate to end up like that body." Arnold and Helga walked off the bridge and found themselves in front of the Silent Hill Police Station. The doors were closed and several of them were boarded up. "Shouldn't a police station have information on the town?"

"It might. Let's check it out." No sooner than Arnold had said that, the sound of shattering glass assaulted their ears as a monster plummeted from a second floor window and landed, head first, on the concrete, sending gore across the pavement.

"Forget that, Football Head! Run away!" Helga cried as she ran away from the station as fast as she could. Arnold simply followed her, running for his very life. At the broken window, however, someone's head popped out to watch two retreating figures run into the fog.

"What the hell?" AJ asked.

"That sounded like Arnold and Helga," Lila said.

"I think it was and they just ran off into the fog." He looked down at the monster currently splattered across the pavement. "Well, that thing isn't going to be bothering anyone ever again." The chief's office, like the subordinate's, was in utter disarray. The difference here was the state the dead body was in. The body was perfectly whole but a dull roar of static seemed to be coming from _inside_ the body. "Did– did he _swallow_ the walkie talkie?"

"Why would he do that?" Lila questioned.

"No idea. Let me borrow the knife for a second." Lila handed AJ the knife, to which he plunged the blade into the body's stomach before slowly cutting up to the chest. After wiping the blade and giving it back to Lila, he stuck his hand into the body and searched it much to Lila's evident disgust, so much so she almost emptied the contents of her stomach. After a moment or so he found what he was looking for, a walkie talkie with a note attached to it. "And you thought the key was weird."

"This place is full of surprises, isn't it?" AJ nodded as he removed the note and handed it to Lila. Out of curiosity, she opened and read it.

_April__ 22nd_

_ That boy came back this morning. He came yesterday as well talking about how some weird guys talking to him about becoming a protector for their God have been stalking him for the past day or so. Funny how he doesn't seem to know or suspect just who is a member of The Order and just who their allies are. I've contacted the sect and we've decided on ambushing him here. I can't be certain but something about that boy may prove to be an issue later. Oh well, better not to discuss it, lest Dahlia decide to use me as a guinea pig instead. Better him than me right? Right. If all goes according to plan he'll be in our possession sometime by tomorrow. For the greater good, let's pray it doesn't take too much longer._

Lila almost had a tear come to her eye. To think that someone who was supposed to protect the people of a town was essentially sending an innocent kid to his death. To her surprise another piece of paper was behind the other. She placed the first paper behind the second and read it.

_April __23rd_

_ He came back again at three o'clock this morning. Thankfully we're always open and he returned or else we would've had to take more drastic measures in his acquisition. I could see the smiles on the officers' faces as our members dragged him out to their lab. Hell, I was smiling as he came back to my office and two of our members jumped him. The confusion and pain in his eyes is something I will savor for the rest of my days. Maybe now he'll learn to be more careful. Oh wait, no he won't. Either they'll turn him into the protector we need or someone else will have that distinct honor. Should he die we'll just start over again. We do have several years after all. Time is certainly on our side._

That did it. Lila felt a few tears fall from her eyes at what she'd just read. The boy who'd been chosen to be the Guardian was betrayed by the very people all parents tell their children they can trust. The police. Her mind wondered just how many people had been tricked or coerced into joining The Order.

"Lila?" AJ questioned. "Are you okay?" Lila glanced up from the forms to see her companion looking at her with concern. She quickly wiped her eyes and regained her composure.

"I'm fine," She assured him. "It's just, the things people do..." Lila held out the papers and AJ took and read them. She noticed his hands tense slightly as his eyes danced across the forms. He silently handed them back and gave Lila a sympathetic glance.

"Welcome to Silent Hill," was all he said in response to the forms. "Let's keep moving." The two walked out of the office only to be ambushed by the loud static as well as a loud scraping sound. AJ stopped dead in his tracks and pushed Lila back into a nearby office and carefully looked out the glass window.

A large, imposing figure trudged slowly down the hallway, his movements slow thanks to the large near seven foot blade he carried behind him with one hand. The figure appeared to be about seven feet tall, wore no shirt and had some type of red substance coating his arms from the elbow down. He wore what looked like the lower half of a flesh-colored robe around his waist that fell to the floor and covered his feet. On his head appeared to be a large, pyramid like helmet that covered his entire head and seemed to have been painfully grafted onto his head. The figure twitched as he walked, as if in serious pain from the object on his head.

"What is that?" Lila whispered. She looked toward her companion to see him shaking in fear. This was a person who took a dead body falling on him calmly and fought monsters without issue, yet this creature had him trembling in fear.

"Pyramid Head," AJ simply replied. "He's the strongest monster in Silent Hill." He looked toward Lila and guessed at her next questions. "That red stuff on his arms is blood." Lila paled as she heard that. "And that robe like clothing he wears is literally made from human flesh." Lila had to go to the corner to empty the contents of her stomach in relative peace. After she got to see her lunch for the second time, she re-approached her companion.

"Why don't you just fight him like you did the other monsters?"

"Because that's a death sentence. Nobody fights Pyramid Head and lives to tell the tale anymore. I've seen more people than you can imagine die at his hands, monsters too." AJ pointed toward his military vest. "This vest was worn by one of his victims. Cut him in half near the waist. Pyramid Head seems to have a will of his own and only attacks certain people."

"So he may not be after us?"

"He may or he may not but I'm not willing to take that risk. If he corners you, it's all over. Nothing can kill him. He's died once but that's only because _he_ killed _himself_. Then, he came back bigger and stronger than ever. Now he's everyone's worst nightmare. All I know is, if he's after you, run as fast as you can and never look back."

Pyramid Head turned his attention to the room the two kids hid in, turning his entire body to see their terrified expressions. He stared directly at them, not moving and keeping his gaze fixed upon them. After a quick moment of silence that felt like an eternity, he turned and continued on his way. Lila and AJ fell to the floor and began to breathe heavily, for they had just stared death in the face and lived to talk about it.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**AJ: For fuck's sake man! Pyramid Head? We're all fucked now!**

**Me: Maybe, maybe not. Okay, I'm just going to say this now, the only monsters that Konami themselves created that will appear in this story have almost all been introduced. There is only one other monster and she's appearing in the next chapter. In case you haven't already guessed, here's another hint, she's a staple of Silent Hill.**

**Zero: Aren't you making that too obvious?**

**Me: I really don't care. It seems like you can't have a Silent Hill story without them really. Also, one other thing I want to point out. AJ keeps telling Lila to keep moving because she is easily frightened by the creatures and the situation she finds her friends and herself in isn't helping matters. In a sense, her timidity is currently preventing her from acting without some sort of catalyst which was proven before. As long as he keeps moving her along, Lila's able to keep her head on straight for a while longer and not worry too much about what she'll see.  
><strong>

**Rendan: And that, of course, has _nothing_ to do with the fact that she has her own guardian to watch out for her?**

**Me: That... may be a factor as well.**

**Rendan: Well, it is a point. Besides all of that, I'm curious to see how good old Pyramid Head factors in and what role he plays.**

**Me: Oh, he's playing a pretty... disturbing role, especially when it's revealed why he's there in the first place. But, like anything good, that won't be revealed for a good long time. Well, that'll do it for this week.**

**Rendan: Be good–**

**Zero: And be safe, everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!  
><strong>


	6. Hell's Hospital

**Me: Chatper 6 is here.**

**AJ: Pyramid Head...**

**Me: Are you still on about that? He _is_ supposed to be there.**

**Rendan: I think it's not that he's there, it's _why_ that's got him like this.**

**AJ: Got it in one.**

**Zero: Can't say I blame you. Pyramid Head isn't exactly known for being... merciful... or anything other than an immortal killing machine.**

**AJ: You're fucking insane!**

**Me: I try my best.**

**AJ: You're enjoying this, aren't you, you sick bastard?**

**Me: Immensely so.**

**Rendan: I guess I'll get the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are owned by Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. The only things Azard owns are the plot, his created monsters and the characters in his Blackadder series.**

**Me: Thanks, as always, Rendan. Anyway, let's get this show on the road! Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6: Hell's Hospital<span>

Helga and Arnold stopped running to catch their breath. They'd run a fair distance away from the police station and now found themselves next to a large brick building. Helga dropped to her knees in exhaustion, having run faster than she'd ever believed she could. Arnold, on the other hand, merely had to take several deep breaths in order to get his second wind. He glanced around carefully, trying to get a baring on their current location.

Across the street was a small boarded up building with the words 'Post Office' scrawled above the boarded door. Taking another look at the map he determined the large building Helga and he were currently standing next to had to be Alchemilla Hospital. The hospital appeared to be far from operational. Most of the windows were either broken or boarded up. Those that weren't offered little to see on the inside. The building was huge, covering a good portion of the street, even on the map.

"If this is the hospital," Arnold mused, "then the town hall must be..." he paused, "here." He pointed to a small building on Cielo Avenue. "So we don't have much farther to go."

"Well that's great and all, Football Head," Helga began, "but what are we even hoping to find there?"

"Information," Arnold immediately responded.

"That's the problem!" Helga cried. "What _kind _of information? I mean, what good is knowing about things that are in this place if we don't even know what the heck's going on? I really don't think some stupid little book is going to tell us anything we really need to know about Silent Hill."

"Maybe not," Arnold admitted, "but maybe we could learn about what's behind all of this. From there, we may learn about where to go next."

"But what are you hoping to learn about?"

"The Order."

"Why would you want to learn about those crazy people?" Helga nearly shouted. "They're all completely nuts!"

"But they have the greatest understanding of what's going on in this place," Arnold said as he began to walk away. "If we learn about them, we learn about Silent Hill."

Helga said nothing and followed as the two made their way to the town hall. Sadly, once they arrived at their destination they found the door to the building was locked and the lock itself was broken far beyond repair. Arnold growled in his throat and moved around the building to look for an alternative entrance. Sadly, there was none.

"Hey, Football Head," Helga called, "I have a question." Arnold took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"What is it?"

"That 'purification liquid' that The Order needed... Where did they get the stuff?"

"The person who wrote the note said they got some from someone named Dr. Kauffman. Maybe he worked at Alchemilla Hospital."

"Let's head there and see if he made any more of the stuff. If he did we could get some of that stuff and protect ourselves from the Guardian if he decides to show up!"

"He said he didn't have the materials to make another batch," Arnold stated.

"Well, who's to say he didn't keep a batch or two hidden from them just in case?" Arnold blinked.

"Good point," Arnold said.

"Of course it is, Arnoldo," Helga pridefully stated. "After all, it was _my _point!"

'She's never heard of modesty,' Arnold thought with a grin.

"What are we wasting time for? Let's go!" Helga walked off as soon as she finished, leaving Arnold grudgingly following behind her. After a short walk the two found themselves at the entrance of Alchemilla Hospital. Despite looking as it did, it was still in better shape than a majority of the surrounding buildings. The doors were open, suspiciously ajar with a trail of blood leading inside. Helga hesitated slightly.

"Having second thoughts?" Arnold questioned.

"N-no way!" Helga stuttered. Truth be told she was slightly worried about running into any monsters inside the hospital. Any reasonably sane person would be worried in _some _slight degree, right? Right. Helga very cautiously approached the door and opened it, watching the dark room carefully for any movement. Seeing none she walked inside with Arnold in tow.

The lobby was empty and completely intact. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed in any way for quite some time. On a bulletin board was a map of the hospital which Helga grabbed and looked at intently. She handed the map to Arnold and walked down the hallway watching the shadows as she did so. The radio remained silent, something Helga was silently thankful for. Anyone could talk a big game but actually killing something was something else altogether.

Helga glanced toward the wooden slingshot she kept handy and looked at it in some disbelief. Could such a small weapon even kill? It surely didn't seem likely. If she wanted to do _any _damage she'd need a better weapon and fast. From personal experience she knew that a wooden slingshot could only hurt someone, something she learned from using one on several occasions when a shot went wild and hit a bystander at full pull. By the person's reaction it just hurt a lot.

Helga groaned loudly as she began to check the rooms only to discover that most of them were locked. The only room that was open had an empty hospital bed that was distinctly different from the others a hospital would normally have. The frame of the bed was wooden and had four posts at each end with three ornaments on the posts. One end was empty and upon closer inspection there appeared to be a slot with a slit on the wooden post. Apparently something was supposed to go there. The ornaments themselves were all carefully carved into the shape of skulls, their expressions evil and malicious. Helga and Arnold felt a cold chill run up their spines as the skulls' empty eyes seemed to be staring into their very souls.

They looked toward each other and back at the skulls, getting the feeling that this room was somehow important. They didn't know know how, exactly, but they knew. The duo walked out of the room and proceeded to attempt to find the nearest stairwell. Instead, they found the elevator which was still, somehow, in order. Helga pressed the button to call the elevator which was resting on the third floor. As the elevator came down the radio began to emit static. Helga quickly readied her slingshot and Arnold tightened his grip on the bat. The elevator doors opened and the creature inside hobbled out.

The creature, at a first glance, was female based on body type. It was tall as an adult and wore a short skirt, high heeled shoes and a top that accentuated its bust with a small nurse hat on its head. Its face, however, was completely wrapped in bloody bandages, whether its blood or someone else's was unknown. This creature's weapon of choice appeared to be a bloody, rusty scalpel which it held in its right hand. It was a near spitting image of a nurse.

The flashlight on Helga's dress shone into the Nurse's face, making the creature stumble quickly toward her. Helga shot the marble at the abomination's head, stunning her for a quick second. Arnold capitalized on that stolen second by hitting the creature in the legs, bringing her to her knees before delivering a second strike to her head, knocking the Nurse to the ground.

The two rushed past the downed creature and into the elevator where they slammed on the button labeled '3' as quickly as they could, closing the elevator doors on the slowly rising monster. As the elevator rose and the static on the radio slowly died down, the two let out simultaneous sighs of relief. The ride on the elevator was spent in silence, though their thought processes were anything but.

'How long will it be...?' Arnold thought as his grip on the bat remained strong. 'How long until I spill the blood of one of these things?' The words of their temporary ally were having their effect. Having seen two monsters literally start to get back up after a full strike to the head was far from unsettling. It was downright terrifying. That thought was exacerbated by the knowledge he had of the Guardian, who apparently could control these creatures and could be sending them to kill him and his friends.

That led to more terrifying thoughts. Could the Guardian be doing this out of some sort of sick pleasure? Was he laughing at all of this? Did he want to break their minds and bodies before he came to finish the job? Of all of these, there was one question that presided above all others. How long until they end up like the bodies they saw?

No matter how Arnold looked at the situation, it seemed to be only a matter of time before they ended up like the mutilated bodies they had seen. If adults couldn't find their way out of this place, what chance did a bunch of kids have? Not much of one, that seemed certain. Helga wasn't thinking such thoughts. She found her attention drawn to the object of her affections and the way he was handling the situation.

'I never thought Arnold would ever be like this,' Helga thought upon seeing the near hopeless expression on Arnold's face. 'If he's almost lost hope, just how much is there?' Helga was more than a little concerned for Arnold, though she'd never outwardly admit it. Helga was almost scared to admit it but if she was the tough girl in damn near every other situation, she'd have to be the toughest one of the three students.

It only made sense to her, considering Arnold seemed to be losing all the hope he had. What scared her the most, though, was that he'd begun to give up so quickly. Arnold was not the type of person to give up at all, let alone this easily. What must be wrong with this place to have such an effect on the usually impossibly optimistic boy? These thoughts were abruptly ended as the elevator finally reached its stop at the third floor.

The doors opened, thankfully, to no static. The duo walked out and glanced around the hallway they'd entered. By their surroundings, they'd have at least another thirteen doors to check in this hallway alone, to say nothing about the rest of the floor. As the duo walked around checking doors, finding a good portion of them locked, they stumbled into a room that appeared to be an office of some kind. There was dried blood on the floor and some empty vials scattered around the room. The room appeared to have not been used in years.

Arnold and Helga searched different areas of the room, hoping to find something of use or hopefully confirm where they wanted to go. There was one thing they were hoping to find at this point, the office of Dr. Kauffman. As Arnold moved some things around, he found several forms, all having to do with the purification liquid the Order spoke of.

_April __30th,_

_ I seem to have misinterpreted just how far the Order was willing to go to do what they believe needed to be done. I've been having Lisa take care of Alessa for the past year or so while their God grows and now they're trying to put someone else in a similar situation like hers? These people are sick and I fear they may just try to betray me. For this reason I have created a cure to the corruption these individuals spread. I call the crimson concoction 'Aglaophotis'. If I'm right, it should be able to kill any monster that these cultist fools create or at the very least free the individual from the taint. The day may come where I will be forced to test this on one of them. I only pray that it works to my advantage. Until then, I'll keep all vials of this concoction in my office. Hopefully The Order will never see fit to search this place. I can only imagine what they'll do to me and if I go, I'm taking all of these bastards down with me!_

_ Dr. Michael Kauffman_

"Aglaophotis?" Arnold read aloud.

"Agla-what?" Helga questioned irritably from the opposite end of the room.

"Aglaophotis," Arnold repeated. "That's the name of the purification liquid the Order spoke of." Helga nodded dumbly and walked over to Arnold to see what he was looking at. Arnold absentmindedly turned to the next form.

_May __16th,_

_ I don't know how they knew, I don't know who told them, but The Order knows of the Aglaophotis. One of the cultists came to me asking for a vial of the concoction. According to them, the boy they were experimenting on has retained his free will and they need to destroy him to start anew. I don't know how they know the boy's retained his free will but if he has he'll surely seek revenge on those that have wronged him. I hope the cultists do not succeed. I would like nothing more than to see them all die for the things they've done and what they've put me though. I have a suspicion they got the information from Lisa. It wouldn't be difficult, all they'd have to do is steal some White Claudia and give it to her. She'll do anything for that damned drug. Stupid drug addicts can't do a goddamn thing right. Still, she does the work I don't want to do, so I suppose it's good that she's still around... for the time being._

_ Dr. Michael Kauffman_

Arnold and Helga stared dumbfounded by all of this. Why would a doctor agree to work with these kinds of people anyway? It didn't make any sense. Their best guess was that he was somehow being threatened, but even then they had no idea how. Placing the form behind the first, they looked at the third and last form.

_September __13th,_

Arnold stopped as he read the date. He quickly reached into his pocket to pull out the form he found on the dead body they found in the school. He checked the date... September 13th. Both of these forms were written on the exact same day. Placing the old form back in his pocket, Arnold looked back at the form in his hands.

_They __returned __again __for __another __vial. __According __to __the __cultists __they__ '__lost__' __the __other __vial. __I __only __have __one __left __and __I __plan __on __saving __it __for __when __I __need __it. __I __lied __and __said __I __had __no __more __of __the __Aglaophotis __and __told __them __I __didn__'__t __have __the __materials __to __make __another. __Another __lie. __I __have __the __necessary __ingredients __but __I __will __only __make __it __if __there __is __no __other __option, __like __the __one __vial __I __have __breaking. __Only __an __immediate __need __like __that __will __force __me __to __make __another __vial. __I __also __heard __that __their __Guardian __has __been __going __around __killing __their __members. __As __bad __as __this __may __sound, __I __hope __he __succeeds __in __killing __all __of __them. __Maybe __he __can __have __his __vengeance __before __I__'__m __forced __to __put __him __down __myself. __He__'__s __no __immortal; __he __can __be __stopped. __All __it __would __take __is __a __little __Aglaophotis._

_ Dr. Michael Kauffman_

'So the Guardian can be stopped after all,' Arnold mused. He turned to Helga and motioned around the room. "Find the Aglaophotis." Helga caught on to Arnold's train of thought and nodded before rummaging around the office as quickly as she could. Sadly, they found nothing that could be of use, no Aglaophotis, no weapons, no ammo. With an exasperated sigh the duo left the office and searched the rest of the hospital's top floor. Only one other room was open, the room being a patient's room. The room seemed to be standard for a hospital, all except for the fact that it was dirtier than any other room they'd come across so far.

As the duo checked the room they had the strangest feeling that they were being observed by someone or something. No matter where they looked they found nothing. Soon there was only one place left to look, under the hospital bed. It was like something out of a child's nightmare, the dread increasing as they approached to take a look. They quickly looked under, ready to fight or run and found only one thing. It was a wooden ornament shaped like a skull. The skull appeared to be laughing at them devilishly which unnerved the two greatly. Feeling something about the skull was important, they grabbed it and took it with them.

As they approached the elevator again, they had a small feeling of dread. They had to go back to the ground floor and they were going to encounter that Nurse again. Arnold handed the skull to Helga and tightened his grip on the bat. They walked in and headed down as the static from the radio suddenly came back. Arnold's grip tensed as the static steadily increased. When the door opened they were confronted by the Nurse. Arnold rushed forward and slammed the bat into the Nurse's legs, dropping her to the floor. Arnold then repositioned himself behind the Nurse and slammed the bat into the monster's head, sending it crashing into the ground. The duo ran once more away from the area until the static died. If they'd stayed but a moment longer, they'd have seen the blood seep from the lifeless skull of the Nurse.

When the two stopped running as the static died down, they found themselves back in the room with the skulled ornaments. The two took a quick look at the skull in Helga's hand before looking at the one post without an ornament. She walked toward it and tried to place the skull in her hands on the post. It fit perfectly. The room suddenly began to shake as a section of one of the walls seemed to vanish from the room entirely, leading to another room. This room, however, held a truly horrifying sight.

A body had been nailed to the far wall of the room. Its chest and stomach had been cut open and there were no organs within the body. Dried blood covered the floor, but no sign existed of anything being dragged. The two stared in horrified wonder at the sight. This had to be the work of the Order. They were about to leave when something shiny caught Helga's eye coming from inside the body's stomach. She approached cautiously and stuck her hand inside only to pull out a metal slingshot that appeared to have been made for combat.

Just as she glanced at the weapon, a siren blared loudly ushering in the horror of the Otherworld once more. Sadly, the two wouldn't see the horrors the Otherworld would bring this time. A swift blow to the back of their heads silenced the two. They never figured out what hit them as their unconscious forms were dragged off by a black-robed figure.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**AJ: I don't know how many times I can say you're a sick bastard until you finally get it.**

**Me: Oh, I knew that already. Besides, everything is falling into place.**

**Rendan: I can't believe you actually ended the chapter like that.**

**Zero: Yeah, I mean... they're basically screwed now.**

**Me: Maybe, maybe not. The only way to find out is to wait for the next chapter to come out. On a separate note, when new monsters are named, I will be filling in the information as soon as they're named. Namely, the bio of the monsters including their symbolic reason for being there. Pyramid Head is obvious as is the Nurse and those two are easy to figure out. The bio's will come at the end of the chapters for my _created_ monsters only.**

**AJ: Did Arnold seriously...?**

**Me: Yes. I know what you're thinking, and yes. But he doesn't know he did. It will play a bit of a factor later as well.**

**Rendan: I suppose that's it for this time?**

**Me: Yep.**

**Zero: Be good and be safe, everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here! **


	7. A Barrier Begins to Break

**Me: Here's Chapter 7.**

**Rendan: Are we going to find out what happened to Arnold and Helga?**

**Me: Sorta. You hear about where they were taken. Also, this chapter and many future chapters have MASSIVE SPOILERS for the games. So, if you haven't played the games yet, read at your own discretion.**

**Zero: Fuck that! Where the hell's Pyramid Head? We want Pyramid Head!**

**Me: We?**

**Zero: What? Everyone else in Author Space wants more Pyramid Head. It's like Cowbell. You can never have enough.**

**Me: I swear you people are watching too much T.V.**

**Zero: How do we watch T.V.? We only exist here!**

**Rendan: Oh just shut up and let's get this one started.**

**Me: I got it this time. I don't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are owned by Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. All I own are the plot and the monsters I've created.**

**Rendan: Now that that's out of the way...**

**Me: Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7: A Barrier Begins to Break<span>

Lila was the first to pick up her head after the imposing creature known as Pyramid Head disappeared. She looked around carefully and made note of the walkie-talkie's static level. Once it had shifted to a dull roar again, she knew it was fairly safe to leave the room. Her companion was up on his feet in a matter of seconds. He opened the office door and looked outside it. He quickly glanced to the walkie-talkie before motioning for Lila to follow. The duo made their way out of the police station, though Lila found it necessary to look behind her every so often, and walked to, what Lila hoped was a quiet place, the nearby church.

The church in question wasn't very far from the police station, a little thing Lila was thankful for. She'd spotted the church just after exiting the station and suggested, by means of essentially pulling her companion by his arm there, that they seek temporary refuge there. Luckily for them, the door was not locked and opened easily for them.

The insides of the church were just like any other building. It appeared to have not been habited for years, yet a collection of dust on the inside remained the only sign that time had passed. Along with the multiple rows of pews, an organ sat in the far corner of the church. Lila sighed happily at the lack of massive static from the walkie-talkie and sat on one of the pews.

"I don't get you," Lila heard AJ say. She turned and looked at him curiously. "You are one of the most timid and innocent people I've ever seen, yet, for whatever reason, you're trapped in Silent Hill and even stranger, you've seen the monsters _and_ the Otherworld." Lila didn't understand what he was getting at.

"What do you mean? Doesn't everyone see these things?" Lila questioned. AJ shook his head solemnly.

"If I hadn't seen that one little girl before, I would've said yes." Lila blinked.

"What girl?"

"I don't know a lot about her, but she was here about the time another man came to Silent Hill. She couldn't see the monsters at all and Silent Hill just seemed to be a normal town to her. If memory serves, she left with him, but I cannot be entirely sure." Lila was now completely lost.

"Wait! Wait! What man? What are you talking about?" Lila asked in rapid succession. AJ looked to her before smiling and scratching just beneath his ear.

"Sorry, I forgot you don't know about this place like I do," he apologized. "The man's name was James Sunderland. He came here looking for his wife some time ago. He met up with that little girl who was _also_ looking for his wife. When all was said and done, I believe they left together but I'm not entirely sure. All I know is she just left."

"How long ago was this?" Lila questioned. AJ shrugged.

"Don't know. Time doesn't seem to flow the right way in this place," he responded.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember how dusty the police station was?" He inquired. Lila nodded her head. "I went there yesterday and moved a bunch of stuff around while I was looking for something. My footprints were _everywhere _by the time I was done. When we went back today, there were no footprints, only dust making it seem as though _years_ had passed. Everywhere I went appeared to have been untouched for a considerable amount of time." Lila nodded, now understanding how he knew his way around the station.

"What about the man, James, was his name? Did he ever find his wife?" AJ's expression switched from apologetic to sorrowful.

"In a sense, I guess he did," AJ answered though his voice was hardly above a whisper.

"In a sense?" Lila repeated, hoping to get more information from her companion. AJ looked at her with an expression that asked, 'Do you really want to know?'. Lila only nodded her head in response to the unasked question. AJ took a deep breath before speaking.

"He found his wife... or rather, what happened to her."

"What happened?" AJ's 'Do you really want to know?' expression returned, though it seemed more severe this time around. "Please." After a sigh, he continued.

"His wife was dead, long dead in fact. Or at least, that's what he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe that she died years ago from an illness, which made his search for her more meaningful. It ended up as quite the opposite, really. It became disturbing and painful. Turns out his wife was killed by someone... and very recently as a matter of fact."

'So she didn't die, but was murdered,' Lila mused as she listened intently, though something began to stir deep inside of her that almost begged her to stop AJ from continuing.

"As it turns out, not only was the murder recent, but it was James himself that killed her." Lila almost felt her heart stop. Her mind couldn't seem to process what she'd just heard. AJ's expression seemed to shift for a brief second to shock before his old one returned. When Lila finally processed everything, she noticed the severe look on her ally's face. "I warned you, and it even gets worse."

"How could it get any worse than that?" Lila cried. "Tell me!" AJ smirked at Lila's sudden show of force and actually demanding an answer instead of asking.

"Based on the letter James kept reading to himself before he disappeared, Mary had grown very attached to the little girl that was looking for her. In fact, she'd have been willing to go through whatever necessary to adopt her, to become her new mother." Lila's head dropped as tears began to fall from her eyes.

'She was going to get a mother...' Lila thought as her tears kept falling. 'Mom...' AJ sat next to Lila and put a hand on her back to help her calm down. Lila shifted herself to clutch onto AJ's vest to cry again. AJ sighed lightly as he allowed the girl to cry into his chest again. He waited and waited but the redhead showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Apparently this subject was very touchy for Lila; if he only knew why. After a few moments, Lila stopped crying and looked up at him, his eyes filled with sympathy.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked.

"About what?" Lila replied with her own question as she wiped the last remaining tears from her eyes.

"Your mother," AJ simply answered. Lila recoiled as if she'd been struck.

"Wh- What are you talking about? There's–"

"She's dead, right?" AJ interrupted her. Lila's eyes filled with tears as she began crying into her hands again. AJ slapped his face in annoyance fully directed towards himself. "Smooth," he said aloud. He glanced to Lila and, for reasons unknown to him, pulled her close into an embrace. "It's alright. You don't have to talk about it." Lila, at this point, was crying on his shoulder as she gave a final sniffle before looking directly into his eyes.

She was still hurting, but something about her companion stuck with her. She had only just met this boy but he'd somehow been able to read her like an open book almost as if he'd known her for years, maybe even for a lifetime. Either that or... was he just like her? Did he know the pain of having family ripped from him at a tender age? Lila suddenly realized how close she was to him and blushed while pulling herself away to a comfortable distance.

"Thank you," Lila said softly. AJ only smiled at her and nodded his head slightly as his response. Suddenly, a loud chirping seemed to come from nowhere, surprising the two. Lila, being the more curious, stood up and began to look for the source of the sound. She found it, surprisingly, at the front of the church hidden under the table the priest would use. In a small cage was a canary, chirping happily as if it had just woken up.

Lila let out an 'aw' as she picked up the cage and started to coo at the tiny bird inside. Her companion, however, was far less receptive of the bird. He walked up to the cage and stared at the canary as his mind suddenly began to race. There was something about this canary that was really important but he couldn't place what it was. After a moment his eyes snapped wide open as he charged Lila.

"Lila, get away from that thing!" He shouted as he pulled her away. Lila was far too confused to fight his grip and found herself being pulled back as her companion hid them both behind a pew.

"Why?" Lila questioned. "What's wrong with the canary?" AJ held her behind the pew as he picked his head up and looked around.

"It's not the canary that you have to worry about," he cryptically replied. The canary began to chirp rapidly, followed shortly after by a siren and the coming of the Otherworld. AJ released Lila as the duo watched everything peel away and become the same, hellish Otherworld they were familiar with.

The pews were now in disarray while the organ in the corner was bent out of shape. Blood stained the keys and even more lined the floor. The duo stayed in place, seeming to wait for the static on the walkie-talkie to kick up. For a while, nothing came. Lila was only getting more confused as her companion kept looking around, almost as if he was expecting something to show up. After a while of looking he began to see movement in the shadows. He ducked his head and held a finger over his lips, signaling her to be silent.

"Wh–" Lila started to say but was quickly silenced with a hand over her mouth.

"Stay down and stay quiet," was all he said as he slowly removed his hand. Lila stared at her companion with nothing short of absolute confusion. Suddenly she heard a voice, and it was _not_ one she was familiar with.

"Who left the canary out here?" the voice asked. The voice itself was masculine and one that signified age. Whoever this person was, he was most likely an adult. AJ picked his head up just enough to see two figures looking at the canary cage. Both appeared to be male considering their size and body shape. It was difficult to tell, however, as both figures were wearing what appeared to be mining gear that covered their entire bodies.

"Probably one of the new guys," a second adult's voice said. AJ used this opportunity to begin running between the pews, getting closer with ever sentence the two uttered.

"Maybe the kids did it," the first voice guessed.

"The ones our brother grabbed at Alchemilla?"

"Yes, those two."

"Could be." The second man looked into the cage at the canary for a moment. "We better move on quickly. Never know when monsters are going to show up." The second man picked up the cage and left quickly, not waiting for his companion. The first man shook his head at his quickly retreating companion. What he didn't expect was to be bludgeoned on the back of his head and sent directly to the floor.

"What the–?" He questioned but stopped suddenly at seeing the boy standing over him with the axe poised to strike. "Y- You're–" he was suddenly kicked across the face by the boy.

"You shouldn't be concerned with that just now, should you?" AJ asked as he loomed over the man. "If I were in your shoes, Order cultist, I'd worry more about giving the person with power over me anything he wants." The floored Order member nodded his head slowly. "Good. Now, I want information. Who did your 'brother' grab at Alchemilla?" The Order member coughed slightly.

"Two kids, looked to be about your age. One had a weird shaped head. Both were blond. One male, one female. The female was wearing a pink dress."

'Arnold and Helga,' Lila thought. She picked up her head to see her companion essentially interrogating the Order member. She ducked again, hoping not to be seen in case another was hidden in the shadows.

"Where did he take them?" AJ questioned.

"He's taking them to our base in Brookhaven Hospital, but you'd need a key to get in. My companion has the key between the two of us." AJ looked out the door the second cultist left through in annoyance. They'd never find him if they looked, unless they accidentally stumbled across him, but the chance of that was extremely low.

"Where would I find a key?"

"In the Lakeview Hotel. There should be a key somewhere in there!" The cultist was becoming more frantic. "B-but you won't be able to get in! We locked the doors!" AJ grinned. The cultist was spilling information without him having to ask. "The key to the hotel should be buried somewhere in South Park, just south of the butcher shop. We hid a metal detector in the shop to find the key in case of an emergency. That's all I know!" AJ's grin turned practically feral. He picked up his foot and stomped on the cultist's head, knocking him out cold.

"Well, now we know where we've got to go," AJ said as he started to head out of the church. Lila peeked her head out from behind the pews.

"We're going to the butcher shop?" Lila asked.

"That's right." The two were suddenly surprised by a spike in static. They turned to see the depressed looking creature from before come from an opening in the ground and make its way to the downed cultist. It looked to the Order member for only a second before it suck its teeth into his flesh and began tearing. Lila shoved her head into AJ's chest to keep from seeing the massive amounts of blood being shed.

AJ started walking back, pulling Lila with him as he did. He quickly opened the door and had Lila run out first with him following shortly after. As the two left the church in the dust, now running on grated streets, the walkie-talkie's static dropped back to a dull roar, something Lila was becoming increasingly thankful for. As they were moving, Lila noticed something that could be a major setback to their plan. There was no ground beneath them!

"Um, how are we supposed to find the key?" Lila asked. AJ didn't even seem phased by the obvious setback.

"We'll have to wait until the Otherworld shifts back to the Fog World. We'll grab the metal detector and find that key. With any luck, the shift will come soon."

"But don't we end up in a different place when the shift occurs?" Lila questioned, remembering where AJ said he'd woken up and found her.

"It's in luck's hands now," was all he said as the siren sounded off in the distance.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And there's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: Placing everything in luck's hands. Risky.**

**Zero: Not like there's much of a choice when that siren goes off.**

**Me: There isn't. So, not much to really say about this chapter, except AJ realizes he's been a dick for bringing up Lila's mom.**

**AJ: How the fuck was I supposed to know?**

**Me: Hehehe.**

**AJ: Asshole.**

**Me: Hey, don't worry about it. You made up for it.**

**AJ: I suppose that's it for this week?**

**Me: Basically. Aside from a little look into Lila's past, well... what I've come up for it anyway, that's all for this time.**

**Rendan: Be good and be safe everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here! **


	8. Path of Victims

**Me: Chapter 8! Whoo!**

**Rendan: Insanity, insanity, insanity. Will you ever run out?**

**Me: Not a chance in Hell.**

**Zero: Do we need to mention just how fucked up in the head you are?**

**Me: Won't do you any good.**

**Zero: Why do we put up with you?**

**Me: 'Cuz you have to.**

**Everyone else: The things we do for love...**

**Me: Anyway, I don't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All I own are the OCs, plot and the monsters I create. Btw. MORE SPOILERS! Read at your own discretion.**

**Rendan: I don't know how often you're going to have to say that.**

**Me: It doesn't matter. Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8: Path of Victims<span>

Helga groaned as she managed to sit up. She rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head as she opened her eyes to see just where she was. To her surprise, the Otherworld was nowhere in sight. Had she been unconscious throughout the entire thing? Helga glanced around to notice that she was in an empty room. Looking up, she nearly had a heart attack.

A various array of sharp implements were hanging just out of her reach above her. When she looked to the floor, all she could see was a massive amount of dried blood. When she finally noticed what she had been laying on she immediately leapt off to the floor. She had been laying on a lab table, a lab table that had been cut, scraped, and covered in blood at least once before. Helga began to pale until she noticed something else. She was alone.

'Where's Arnold?' Helga franticly thought. She began to check any possible spot in the room she could think of to find him or, she dreaded, his corpse. Finding nothing after a moment, she looked to the door that had to lead out of the room and hopefully somewhere safe. Doing a quick check of her equipment, which was all missing, Helga left the room in search of her gear and, more importantly, Arnold.

Helga found herself walking through an underground base of sorts. There were hallways leading to more hallways with several intersecting paths that crossed and didn't seem to really lead anywhere. Letting out a small sigh, Helga started to check the rooms and started with the closest one. In the room was what looked like a dentist's chair... if it were meant to be in an insane asylum anyway. There were straps on the chair meant to bind the hands and legs to the chair to prevent any violent thrashing. Above the chair was another array of sharp objects, all bloodied from apparent use.

As she looked around the bloodied room Helga noticed a small vial stand with several vials on the stand and one of them was full. Helga looked at the vial and noticed the strange, crimson liquid inside. Her mind wandered back to Dr. Kauffman's forms and remembered the description of the 'purification liquid'. A crimson colored liquid he called 'Aglaophotis'. Believing this liquid to be the concoction, Helga found a lid for the vial, capped it and took it with her. She smirked slightly at possibly having the one weapon that could kill the 'all powerful' Guardian. Now she had to find Arnold so she could tell him about it. The only problem was, she had no idea where she was and even less of an idea about where he could be.

Before Helga could leave the room, she heard the doorknob to the room jiggling rapidly. Whatever emotion she had been feeling immediately turned into dread as the jiggling became more violent. Helga looked around for any sort of place to hide but could find none. Helga had almost lost hope of getting out of this situation without being discovered when she had a single thought, hide in plain sight. It was risky, insanely so, but there was no other option. Helga leapt into the chair and shut her eyes, pretending to be unconscious. She had just closed her eyes when two figures walked into the room.

"This one of the brats?" One of the figures asked. The voice sounded feminine, which partially worried Helga. Sure men could be stupid but she'd hoped that a _woman_ would at least have some sort of reasoning to know this cult was crazy. Apparently that wasn't so.

"I'm surprised that he chose to put this one here, but there must be a reason," the second voice said, clearly a man's voice. The two figures walked around the room for a moment before the female shouted.

"Where the fuck is the purification liquid!" She cried, sounding frantic and terrified.

"D-did one of our brothers take it?" The man asked.

"No, that liquid is too important to be carried around like some sort of accessory... Maybe... the Guardian has it." Helga listened to the two while barely resisting her desire to grin at how stupid these people were. She had only barely succeeded thanks to the knowledge of what they'd do to her if they found out she wasn't unconscious.

"We have guards walking around this place day and night! If he'd gotten in there would be a trail of bodies to show for it! He wouldn't spare one soul in this place. Someone must have taken it." A slight growl from the female signified that she had given up.

"What are we supposed to do then? We are so close–"

"We may be close but now we've reached a setback. Without the liquid we'll have to try killing him the old fashioned way."

"Can that be done?"

"If it bleeds, we can kill it. He's bled before. We can do it." The female nodded slightly to the man as she attempted to open the door, finding it stuck.

"We need to fix these damned things," she groaned. The man in her company walked up to the door and kicked it open only stopping to turn around to see if the girl had woken up. She hadn't.

"We just need a new door," he said calmly as he walked out with the female following shortly behind. Once the sound of their footsteps faded Helga opened her eyes and walked out the door.

'That was too close!' Helga thought. Helga left the room and began to check the others. Like the hospital, many of them were locked or bolted shut from the other side. Helga was lucky to find one of the rooms that was open and she entered, only to see something that she'd hope she'd never see.

Arnold was laying on a table like the one she woke up on. He was currently shirtless and blood was smeared over his chest and stomach. Next to him on the table were several bloodied tools, all seemed to have been used recently as well as several of the tools above his head dripping with freshly spilled blood. Helga took a step back, slipped on the blood that was spread out on the floor and hit her head on the back wall. The sudden impact left a sound that woke Arnold from his slumber.

Arnold shot up the second the sound reached his ears. The second he sat up he felt a wet substance dripping on his head. Looking up he noticed the bloody tools and knew exactly what liquid was dripping on him. He scrambled off the table and reached the floor, finally realizing that not only was he was shirtless but also covered in blood. He glanced around to a nearby sink that was in the room and rushed to turn it on, hopefully to wash the blood off his person. Fortunately for him, the water came as he turned the handle and he washed himself of the life-giving fluid that rested on his torso and head.

Helga, while rubbing her head, rose to her feet to see Arnold in a panicky state as he washed himself. As Arnold turned around Helga noticed that he hadn't been wounded. There were no cut marks, no stitching, no anything that could lead her to believe that Arnold had been harmed... any more than a whack on the head anyway. Arnold looked over his body quickly before his gaze leveled on Helga, who was in a mix of shock and euphoria at seeing her secret crush was alright.

"Football Head, you okay?" Helga asked. Even if his body appeared to be okay, his mind was a different story. Arnold took several deep breaths and looked around the room, listening to the dripping blood hit the table.

"I- I'm fine, Helga," Arnold replied with a shaky tone. Anyone with a brain could see Arnold was rattled beyond what was normal for the boy. Helga could only nod dumbly. She knew Arnold was bothered much more than he was showing. A lot more. The only problem was that she didn't need to fight with him at this point and time and their primary concern should be to get the hell out of wherever it is they were. Arnold found his shirts on the counter near the table. He quickly slipped them on and looked around for his bat.

"They took our stuff, Arnold," Helga said. Arnold looked to her with a near frantic expression on his face. Helga could almost sense his upcoming question and replied before he had the chance to ask. "I was looking for our stuff when I found you. I don't know where they put them." Arnold had to hold on to the counter to steady himself. Waking up as he did was not something that existed in even his worst nightmares. After a moment Arnold seemed to visibly calm down to the point he started to act like his old self again. 'He's trying to be strong,' Helga mused.

"Okay," Arnold stated, his voice finally rid of its shaky tone, "we have to find our gear and get out of here." Helga nodded as she reached into her shirt and held out the vial for Arnold to see. "Helga, what's that?" Helga smiled slightly.

"Our weapon against the Guardian. Aglaophotis." Arnold's eyes widened as he stared at the vial in Helga's hand. Without thinking, he rushed to her and embraced her. Helga's expression took on something akin to pure bliss which thankfully went unnoticed by Arnold. Helga quickly slapped herself to rid herself of her dreamlike state.

"This is incredible! Where did you find it?"

"I found this in a room I checked out before I got here. But, there's a problem." Helga quickly removed herself from Arnold's arms, though she would never admit she liked the hug, and hid the vial of Aglaophotis. "Two of the cult members came there looking for it. From how they sounded I guess that they've gotten the Guardian restrained for a while. They think they can kill him even without the liquid." Arnold sighed.

"I don't know what to think about that," Arnold stated truthfully. "On the one hand, the Guardian is an unstoppable killer that will kill anyone that he sees fit. On the other, he's clearly against The Order and seems to do all in his power to keep them from succeeding. As for The Order, they're clearly against the Guardian but," Arnold paused to rub his head where he was struck and look back to the bloody tools, "it seems like they hurt or kill whoever they think can get in their way... and they have no problem doing it. I don't know who I want to win."

"Let's focus on _us_ winning and getting out of this crazy town alive," Helga said. Arnold nodded and began to walk out of the room. Just as he was about to open the door, something caught his eye. There was a small sheet of paper sticking out of one of the drawers, something he could swear wasn't there before. Considering most of the information he'd gotten on the town came from forms like these, Arnold pulled the form from the drawer and read it. This one was... different, however. Instead of it being like the others, with a date and information, it seemed to be directed _to __him_.

_I'm sure you are wondering where you are, right? You're wondering just where you are or what kind of town you've stumbled in. You're probably also tearing yourself up over how to escape. Don't lose hope, people have escaped before. But those that have escaped have been forced to nearly give up everything in order to obtain their freedom._

_They've had to accept that inner darkness all of mankind possesses while others denied and succumbed to it. The question is... Can you do it? Can you accept what you have inside of you? Can you escape from this nightmare? Will you walk the paths of Silent Hill's victims? Should you decide, go to the designated spot and locate the next form. By doing this, you will take the paths of Silent Hill's past victims, both the survivors and the damned, and finally see just what it was that brought about their escape or demise. Here is your first destination: Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. Good luck._

Arnold stared at the paper in his hand. In his mind, he contemplated following the notes to see just where it could possibly lead him. It could very well be the thing that led him to the answers he was looking for. It could help him figure out to escape. In all of Arnold's reading, he hadn't noticed that Helga was staring at him quite curiously. He looked toward Helga and smirked.

"I think I've just found a clue to getting out of here," Arnold said. Helga dropped her jaw.

"You're kidding, right?" She questioned. Arnold shook his head and handed the form to Helga. She read over it and looked back at Arnold. "So are we going to do it? Are we going to follow this... 'Path of Victims' to find a way out?"

"We are," Arnold replied. Helga nodded and handed the file back to Arnold. "But let's find out stuff first." The two proceeded to walk around the base, resuming in the activity of checking each door to see if it was locked or not. As they kept going, they discovered most of the doors were locked, or the locks were broken beyond repair, just like anywhere else in the town. With the way the male handled the troublesome door before, Helga wondered why there weren't more doors kicked in that they could explore.

The duo approached an intersection where one hallway became four, well, three considering they checked one, and stopped immediately as voices reached their ears. It seemed that two Order members were talking, both male this time if the voices they heard were any indication, but one of their voices Helga recognized. Helga peeked around the corner to see the members dressed up in common garb, which surprised Helga. When she thought of a cult member, she thought of someone dressed in a black robe with the hood of the robe covering his or her face. Instead, one of the figures appeared to be in his late twenties while the other seemed to be in his late teens.

"What happened?" The voice Helga didn't recognize, belonging to the older cultist, asked.

"The Guardian's escaped, but he didn't do it alone," the teen stated. "He had help. It seems the previous assumptions made by our brothers were correct, he _can_ control the monsters here, even the supposed strongest of them. He sent them to protect that other brat that came with the other two we have here."

'Protect? That can't be right... but... if it's true, just who was he trying to protect?_'_ Helga thought. That didn't seem to fit what appeared to be the Guardian's main objective.

"I don't think that was the case," the first voice stated. "I think the brat got lucky and managed to escape. The Guardian spares _no __one_, brother. Aside from that, she does have that other brat helping her."

"But isn't that other brat–"

"We don't know for sure. Any documentation on him was lost years ago."

"Years? Just how long has he been here?"

"Again, I don't know! I'm not so old that I'd know about everyone the Order or the town itself brings here! The fourth brat may not even be who we assume he is, but there is one thing I know for certain. The Guardian has his eyes on that boy."

"How can you tell?"

"Our canaries, boy. They always chirp lightly whenever that boy was near, but he himself isn't making them frantic, meaning that a monster must be following him but is keeping its distance for one reason or another. He's managed to escape us multiple times thanks to... interferences and I believe the Guardian is watching him, almost like a scientist watches a specimen. He may be waiting to see if the boy manages to escape, but why escapes me." The teen seemed disturbed by this as he let out another sigh.

"Regardless, those two are on the loose again and we have no idea where they went." The older cultist sighed.

"Get more of our brothers and sisters out there," he said. "Make sure those brats are found and brought back. On top of that, find the missing vial of the purification liquid your partner was screaming about earlier. After we get them all here we'll figure out just what is true and what isn't."

"What exactly do we need the _four_ of them for?"

"In case we're wrong, we have four sacrifices to appease the Guardian with. Hopefully it'll get him back on our side as was originally intended."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We'll have to kill him."

"Which is why we need the liquid."

"Correct," the older cultist confirmed while nodding his head. "Now get moving!" The teen cultist nodded and ran off, leaving the older cultist alone with his thoughts. The older cultist paused for a moment and walked into a nearby office. Arnold and Helga made a silent pledge not to go into that room and watch for him coming out. They turned and headed down the opposite hallway, if only to get further away from that cultist. Luckily, the closest door they checked was unlocked and they quickly moved inside. The room appeared to be something like a supply area for the members of The Order. Along the shelves that lined the room were several cases of ammunition for shotguns, rifles and pistols, but no guns were in sight. The two kids figured that every cultist must have had some type of gun on them if they needed this much ammunition.

This was perhaps the only room in the compound that didn't have blood smeared all over the floor. The room was fairly clean, save for some dust on the floor. With no idea what else they would find in the room, they began to search the shelves. They a few health drinks and even a first aid kit, but those things paled in comparison to what they found on the final shelf in the room. On the final shelf they found Helga's slingshot and ammo as well as Arnold's metal bat. There was, however, one thing about the bat that made Arnold hesitate slightly as he reached out for it. On one part of the bat was a small red splotch. It didn't take much for the two kids to figure out what that was.

'Must have been from when I hit that monster at the hospital,' Arnold reasoned. He grabbed his bat and Helga grabbed her slingshot. The two peeked their heads out of the door to look into the hallways if only to check for nay order members that may have been wandering around their base. Seeing no one, the two took the same path they felt was the correct one, the path the teenage Order member took earlier. Fortunately for them, the path led to a staircase and led them out of the lair into what appeared to be another hospital. When they walked through the exit, the wall behind them closed. As they walked further away, they heard the sound of gears clanking behind them. They turned to see the wall being sealed with an intricate lock that only a key could open.

Taking one final look at the lock, the two walked out of the hospital and found themselves surprisingly close to the building they were looking for. Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. The building appeared to be in okay shape, considering only the windows were boarded up and the door itself was gone. Seeing that they had an easy way inside, they entered. Arnold wasted no time and started to look around for a sheet of paper that held his next clue on it.

Helga had other things on her mind and decided to bowl a little bit, to see how many strikes she could get before she ran out of lanes. She picked up the closest ball and hurled it down the lane as fast as she could. The ball smashed the pins with a resounding crack as all of the pins toppled over. Helga was slightly surprised when the mechanism that reset the pins started working and she heard her ball being returned. As the ball rolled out, she found a white piece of paper sticking to the ball and a key fell out of one of the holes. She removed the form and glanced over it quickly. Looking back down at the key, she picked it up.

"Hey! Football Head! Look what I found!" Helga shouted while waving the form in her hand. Arnold stopped what he was doing and rushed over. Taking the form from Helga, he began to read.

_So you decided to take the Path of Victims, eh? Well, this little tale is about a young man named Eddie. Eddie Dombrowski to be exact. This young man was an interesting one. Just a simple victim of bullying really. Poor boy was constantly tormented due to his weight and snapped. He shot a dog dead and shot a football player at his high school in the knee. He escaped the authorities and made his way to Silent Hill._

_Sadly, the town seemed to be too much for his troubled mind and he slipped slowly into madness. This is the place where Eddie had an encounter with the man who would eventually end his life, James Sunderland who, incidentally, is your next assignment but I'll get to that eventually. Eddie finally snapped completely and attempted to kill James, only to be shot dead by the man he attempted to murder. Eddie succumbed to the madness of Silent Hill due to his unstable personality and his destroyed state of mind._

_I wonder which state you're currently in... But I digress, your next location is a spot very near and dear to the man you're now following, James Sunderland. Your next target spot is the Lakeview Hotel. The key I've provided you should be able to get you into one of the entrances. Now that you have your clue, find the next form. But be warned, you may not like what you find._

Arnold stared at the form before nodding a silent confirmation to Helga. Helga nodded back and walked out of the Bowl-O-Rama with Arnold at her side, both dead set on reaching their next destination.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter!<strong>

**Rendan: Now someone's writing directly _to_ Arnold?**

**Me: Yep. Keep the mindfuck coming!**

**Zero: Why exactly are people reading this again?**

**Me: Because some people are just as fucked up as me!**

**Rendan: Understatement.**

**Me: I like to keep the mindfuck going, just to have a little fun.**

**Rendan: It doubt anyone will be able to figure you out with this fucking story.**

**Me: With any luck they won't. It's all meant to be quiet until the chapters come.**

**Zero: And when they do, everyone's brain starts to hurt.**

**Me: Damn right!**

**Zero: I guess that'll do it for this time.**

**Rendan: Be good and be safe everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!**


	9. Keep Going No Matter What

**Me: And here's Chapter 9!**

**Rendan: Well, now we're finally going to see who reaches the hotel first.**

**Zero: Pyramid Head! Pyramid Head! Pyramid Head!**

**Rendan: -Backhands Zero- Will you shut the fuck up!**

**Zero: Hey! Fuck you!**

**Me: You guys pull this shit every fucking time... Gotta say, it's a lotta fun to watch you two argue.**

**Zero: Well, it wouldn't happen if he left me alone!**

**Rendan: Where's the fun in that?**

**Me: Right, there is no fun.**

**Zero: Ugh, can we please just get this chapter going?**

**Me: Fine, fine. I don't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. The only thing I own are my OCs, my created monsters and the plot.**

**Rendan: Well, let's get this psycho's wet dream under way!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9: Keep Going No Matter What<span>

Time had passed... Of that much, Lila was certain. The first time she'd woken up after the transition from the Otherworld, a fair amount of time had passed. So why would it be any different this time? Truth is, it wasn't. What _was_ different, however, was that Lila found it impossible to move her arms. She squirmed slightly, trying to figure out just why she couldn't move. From her squirming, she learned something else. She couldn't move her legs. As Lila's consciousness continued to come back to her, she began to hear voices. An adult's voice, what sounded like a teenager's voice and... AJ's voice.

Slowly, while silently praying she'd be unnoticed, Lila opened her eyes. What she saw was not something she would forget any time soon. It would also cement her fears of just what this town was capable of. She was tied up, her arms bound at her sides and her legs were tied together. In front of her, no more than seven people of varying ages were looking down at her and smirking darkly. They had to be members of The Order. They all wore regular clothes: jeans, shirts, sneakers, etc, which surprised her slightly seeing as how the cultists she'd seen before were wearing mining gear. She looked to her side and saw her companion in the same situation she was in. The only thing different was that while she was scared of the people grinning evilly at her, AJ was glaring at them defiantly.

She finally realized where she was. She was in a small, dead-end alleyway, barely large enough to fit the cultists if they stood abreast. She and her companion had their backs against a brick wall with the only exit being blocked off by the cultists.

"Ah, the second brat finally awakens," a man that must have been in his late thirties stated. He turned to face her bound friend. "I'm glad she's awake. I wouldn't want her to miss the fun!" He pointed at AJ. "You, my little brat, have been a thorn in our side for longer than I care to recall. Your blatant actions against us and God cannot, and will not, be tolerated any longer." AJ spat into the cultist's face, something that the other cultists laughed at.

"He's always been a fighter, hasn't he?" Another cultist questioned.

"Indeed," the first cultist replied. "Good thing we found them in front of the church. It was much easier to apprehend them since they were right in front of one of our bases. Still, there is one thing I must know." The cultist bent down until he was eye level with his male captive. "Why do you defy us so? Why do you continue to get in the way of bringing God to us?"

"You people are insane," AJ responded, his expression never changing from the glare. "You hurt and kill innocent people and for what? Just so your supposed God will favor you? What good has it done you? Your own guardian turned against you and is killing you! Where in your insane mind does that appear to be your God favoring you?" The cultist took a long look at the boy and sighed. He nodded to one of the teenage cultists and, with a nod, the teen ran off with his female partner.

"Another skeptic," the cultist said solemnly. "We've dealt with your kind before. You can't even begin to comprehend what God has in store for us. All we do, we do to gain Her favor. We were close... so close to achieving our goal... when someone had to fuck it up. We think it was you. A brat who came to Silent Hill and messed with our experiments. We believe it was you that gave the Guardian his free will. The one who sent him on a killing rampage... and that's why we believe he pities you."

"The Guardian pities no one! You idiots, of all people, should know that!" AJ shouted. Lila was speechless as she watched the exchange. The cultist turned his head to a fellow member of the Order and held out his hand. The other member walked to him and placed a combat knife, Lila's combat knife, into his hand. The cultist smiled darkly at his male captive and ran his finger across the blade, not pressing hard enough to cut himself or draw blood.

"You're something else," the cultist commented. "You claim to hate our ways, who we are... what we do, but you know just as much about this town as we do... maybe even more so. Tell me, did the Guardian tell you about Silent Hill? Did he tell you how to escape? Did he teach you?" The cultist shook his head. "No matter, you won't live long enough to answer those anyway." He stepped closer and placed the blade against AJ's neck. "Since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you ask one final question before I kill you. Don't waste it." AJ's eyes looked around before they settled on the cultist.

"Okay, how fast do you think you can dodge a slowly moving figure with a very large weapon that's currently approaching you?" The cultist shot the boy a confused glance as he rose to his feet and stepped back. The man was obviously wondering just where that question came from, though that wouldn't last. Lila's scream pierced the air as a large blade suddenly burst through the front of the cultist's body and stopped less than a centimeter away from AJ's head. He gulped slightly as a bead of sweat was visibly separated by the blade. The wielder of the blade stood behind the pierced cultist and lifted the blade, splitting his victim perfectly in half.

As the body of the cultist dropped to the left and right, the two kids managed to see just what was behind that action. Standing with the bloody blade, ready to kill again, was Pyramid Head. The imposing figure raised his blade and slammed it into the ground. The two kids could only watch in horror as he reached down and grabbed AJ by the bonds that were holding him and hoisted him into the air with his left hand, mere inches away from the pyramid like helmet on his head.

"Kill it!" One of the other cultists shouted. Seconds later a multitude of shots rang out as the cultists unloaded all the bullets they had into Pyramid Head's back. The thing was, he never made any action to make it obvious he'd been hit. He didn't flinch, didn't move, and didn't turn his head in the slightest. He just kept staring at the terrified child he'd picked up. With no noise, no indication, he dropped the child he was holding and turned around to face the cultists. He grabbed the nearest one before lifting him into the air. Pyramid Head grabbed the cultist's shirt before tearing it clean off his body. The next thing he grabbed was the man's skin. With a swift tug, he tore it all off, both skin and his remaining clothes.

As the cultists continued shooting at Pyramid Head, AJ found the sharp end of Pyramid Head's blade and rubbed his bonds against it until he was free. He quickly located the knife that the cultist had been using and rushed over to free Lila. As he got near her, a cultist turned toward them and readied herself to fire. She never pulled the trigger. Pyramid Head grabbed his blade and swung it, slicing the female cultist in half just underneath her bust. Lila could only watch in horror as Pyramid Head slowly and systematically slaughtered the cultists, their bloodcurdling screams filling her soul with dread. Even her companion found he could not move at the sight of the carnage in front of him. Despite all of this, it was Lila that snapped out of her stupor first.

"A-AJ!" Lila cried, trying to snap her companion out of his thousand yard stare. His eyes widened before he quickly regained his composure. He turned to Lila and sliced the bonds holding her and helped her to her feet. He reached to one of the dead cultists and took his hatchet from the cultist's dead hands. Just as the two readied themselves to run, the screams suddenly stopped and they realized something. There was nothing else that could distract Pyramid Head while they made their escape. They were trapped.

Pyramid head turned his body to face them again, this time opting to stare at them. Minutes seemed like hours as the invincible force known as Pyramid Head stared at them. His next action, one that both kids could not expect, would remain a mystery to the two terrified children. He raised his sword and pointed it at AJ before turning and walking away again. Lila had to summon all of her inner strength not to vomit or pass out at the bloody scene before her. One cultist was split in half vertically, several were cut in half horizontally at varying parts of their bodies, and one had his skin literally ripped off his body. To top it all off, it seemed that her companion had been targeted by The Order.

With the second appearance of Pyramid Head, she didn't know what to think. At first it appeared that he was going to kill everyone but then he walks off while she and her companion, miraculously, were left alive. AJ quickly started to search the bodies, noting that at no point during the slaughter did he hear static. On the ringleader, his left side to be precise, AJ found the walkie talkie in the dead cultist's pocket. He switched it back on and the dull roar of static returned. Saying nothing more, he walked back over to Lila who hadn't so much as moved since Pyramid Head left.

'Pyramid Head has a will of his own,' Lila thought, remembering what AJ had told her not so long ago. 'If he does, could he be planning something? Is he actually able to do that? To plan something so far ahead?' Lila didn't realize that while she was thinking about this, AJ was looking at her with concern since her eyes were glued to the gory scene before them.

"Lila," AJ stated softly. It was more than enough to snap Lila out of her thoughts. She looked at him, still scared, and breathed almost haphazardly, as if she were struggling to catch her breath. "You know, he never did answer my question," AJ added as if to lighten the mood with a joke. Lila looked at him incredulously.

"How can you joke when something like this happens?" Lila questioned in just over a whisper. Lila felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, one that she knew belonged to her companion and found herself relaxing at his touch, though why she wasn't sure.

"In a place like this," he said with severity, "you have to do everything in your power to keep your sanity... even if it means making a joke in the most inappropriate of times." Lila looked straight into his eyes and knew from the glow they were giving that he wasn't lying. The thought worried her to a great extent. Silently, though, she was thankful that her companion seemed to be watching out for her, both her physical and mental well being, though the latter state was still questionable at this point. Silent Hill didn't let up on the mental attacks.

Lila turned to look at her surroundings more closely. On the wall she'd be placed against, there was a huge message that appeared to have be scrawled in blood. _This wall wasn't here before._ Lila blinked at how causal yet nonsensical the message was. The wall wasn't there before... what the hell was that supposed to mean? It was a moment before Lila snapped out of the confused stupor the message on the wall put her in.

"That's right!" Lila suddenly shouted. "We have to get to the butcher shop!" It was then she realized that not only did she not know where the butcher shop was but she also didn't have a map of the town.

"Okay. Next stop, butcher shop," AJ said as he started to walk out of the alley. Lila immediately followed.

"Do you know where it is?" Lila questioned as she caught up to him and began walking at his side. AJ nodded to her.

"I've been here so long I basically know where everything is," he commented.

"How long do you think you've been here?" Lila asked.

"A few days, maybe a week or two," AJ replied. Lila stared at him with no small amount of shock. "Lila, we've barely been here for... an hour, maybe, and we've seen a fair amount of the town already. It's not a very big town." Lila nodded silently and continued following. The duo eventually made their way to the butcher shop, locating a bloody shovel and a metal detector inside. AJ, seeing a potential use for the shovel later, grabbed some rope and tied the shovel to his back. Deciding to forsake conversation for efficiency, they grabbed the gear and headed to the second location they had to search, South Park.

Green grass and maybe a few trees. That's all that really could be said about it. It was rather large, but there weren't many obstacles that stood between the two and the item they needed. Lila switched on the metal detector and began to walk around, hovering the detector inches above the ground. Her companion, on the other hand, held his shovel in the way one would hold a combat weapon. His eyes constantly darted around the area as his ears listened carefully for the sound of static going above its usual dull roar. A sudden burst of beeping snapped him out of his hyperaware state, looking at the spot that the metal detector was currently hovering over.

Lila moved slightly out of the way as AJ thrusted the shovel into the ground and started to dig. As he dug, Lila took on the role of lookout, clutching the knife in her possession closely to her chest. To her joy, however much could be given in a place like Silent Hill, the walkie talkie's static level never went above its dull roar. AJ reached into the small hole and pulled out a key. He looked over to Lila and nodded. She gave a silent nod and placed the metal detector on the floor while he placed the shovel on his back again. The two walked out of the park and headed down the road to the hotel.

Just like the cultist said, the door leading into the hotel was locked. AJ placed the key into the small lock and opened the door, leading the two of them into the place that held the key to help Arnold and Helga. The lobby, just like any other place in Silent Hill, was generally untouched except for dust. Lila walked around the lobby looking for a map or anything that could help them figure out where to go. She eventually found it in one of the drawers in the receptionist's desk along with a health drink. Lila opened the map and sighed.

"We have a lot of rooms to check," Lila said sadly. She looked to her companion, almost hoping that he'd have some sort of a plan. "Any ideas?" AJ nodded.

"We search the entire hotel and hope for the best," AJ answered. Lila's face fell slightly. "Hey, we know for a fact that there's a key here."

"But what if that cultist was lying?" Lila asked. AJ's grinned response was unnerving.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to lie when you're absolutely terrified?" He replied with his own question while his unsettling grin never left his face. In fact, it seemed to widen and become even more disturbing. Lila shook her head and AJ's grin grew further, becoming slightly terrifying. "Tell me, Lila, why are you here? What drew you to Silent Hill?" His voice became almost manic.

"I... I heard a voice," Lila replied in a terrified squeak.

"A voice?" AJ questioned as he started approaching her, his grin becoming toothy.

"Y-yes," Lila responded. "It was a soft voice calling to me and told me to come here! I swear!" Lila noticed one thing, in her terror she was giving out the information he'd asked for and _then_ some. She shut her eyes tightly and waited for whatever was going to happen to happen. Nothing did.

"And that's why we can trust his words," AJ stated, the manic tonic completely gone from his voice. Lila opened her eyes to see the unsettling, if not disturbing and terrifying, grin on his face had vanished. Lila quickly slapped him across the cheek.

"What did you do that for?" Lila shouted. AJ rubbed his cheek absently and smiled a soft smile.

"Talk is cheap," he answered. Lila looked toward him in confusion. "When I did what I did, you were scared, right?" Lila could only nod her head. "Well, that's basically what the cultist was going through before. When you were scared, the only thing you could tell me was the truth, right?" Lila nodded again. Honestly, the fact that he knew all this was slightly scary on its own. "It takes someone who has an insane amount of guts to lie despite the fact that he could die at any second."

'Then why do I get the feeling you could do it without a second thought?' Lila questioned only in the chasm of her mind.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Lila. Fear is going to be your greatest enemy which is the second reason I did that." Lila's confusion increased. AJ sighed and picked up her hand that held the knife and put it in front of her face. "What do you think I gave you that knife for?"

"T-to protect myself?" Lila replied unsurely. She was more sure of her answer when he nodded with a smile.

"That's right, to protect yourself. But, you can't protect yourself if you're too afraid to fight back... which is why I'm going to train you."

"Train me?" Lila asked.

"Yes. I'm going to help you get ready to fight anything and anyone that you need to in this place... even if it ends up being me." Lila gasped in shock. "Do you think you'd be the first? This place does weird things to people, Lila. You wouldn't be the first that had to fight or kill someone you met in Silent Hill." He looked at her with sadness present in his eyes. "Even if it was someone you thought you could trust." Lila looked at him with no small amount of fear. "So, once we get your friends back, I'm going to train you so you can take that final plunge to protect not only yourself... but also those you care for."

"I..." Lila began, "I'm not sure if I can do that." AJ placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. For some reason it always seemed to calm her down quite a bit, something both kids noticed but had different ideas as to why.

"You can," AJ simply said. "This place takes away many things, Lila. From friends to family members, lovers to children, this place has no mercy, no remorse and no consideration for the things that it does. The only question is when will you decide it won't take anything away from you?" He looked at her expectantly. Lila's eyes widened slightly when she realized he was expecting an answer.

"Can... Can I have some time to think about it?" She questioned.

"Of course, but let me know as soon as you come to a decision." Lila nodded to him. He began to walk off into the hotel and Lila followed without the needed prompt. She began to wonder just why she was able to trust him like she did. It had almost been like when she thought... No... No, that couldn't be it. On the other hand, she absorbed everything he said like a sponge, she never disregarded anything he said and, for one reason or another, she felt safe with him around. Then again, that could have been because he's been here longer than she has, actually has knowledge about this place, was skilled at fighting and wasn't afraid to when it came down to it. Yeah, that had to be it.

They checked many of the rooms that weren't locked on the first floor. Aside from a few destroyed rooms they didn't find too much. The most they'd found was a simple health drink which was sitting on a sink in the bathroom. Just as they were about to walk up the stairs to the second floor, the siren sounded and the Otherworld was ushered in. Lila looked around as the Fog World was literally ripped up, leaving the hellish, bloody Otherworld in its place.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Lila said lowly. AJ was about to say something when the static level in the radio spiked. They looked around to see the depressed looking creature from before coming from one end of the hallway and what appeared to be a Nurse coming from the other. AJ grabbed his hatchet from his waist and stood protectively in front of Lila. He was slightly at a loss, seeing how both monsters were at a near equal distance away and approaching at roughly the same pace. Seeing the light shining on her face, the Nurse started to move faster, prompting AJ to stand in the Nurse's path. At the rate this was going, he could kill the Nurse and then focus on the other one. Suddenly, the depressed looking creature rushed forward and stabbed at Lila from the side.

AJ quickly moved to get in the creature's way, getting stabbed in the vest as a result. Lila was too scared to scream as AJ grabbed the monster's arm and chopped it off with a swing of the hatchet. It was then that Lila saw AJ do something she'd never seen before. He removed the bladed hand from his vest and stabbed the creature through the head from bottom to top with it. As the creature dropped to the floor, dead, he turned again to intercept the Nurse's incoming strike. He grabbed the Nurse by the arm, pulled her down while redirecting her strike and severed her head from her shoulders in one fluid motion. Lila rushed to her companion as soon as the Nurse's headless body hit the floor and the walkie talkie's static level returned to its usual dull roar. She immediately checked the vest and found that, though it was torn, it hadn't even been pierced by the monster's attack. AJ smiled at her.

"Anything to survive in this place," he repeated. Lila felt relieved that his stealing a combat vest had actually saved his life. She looked up to him and found herself smiling as well. He kicked the feral creature for good measure. "Stupid Jilt."

"Jilt?" Lila asked.

"I don't know why... but they remind me of a jilted lover," AJ explained. Lila gave him a confused glance. "Basically someone who was suddenly dumped by someone that he or she cared about. It... reminds me of that for some reason." Lila said nothing. The two looked back to the stairs to find them completely destroyed with no way up. "Well, back to the rooms." Lila looked back to him like he'd grown a second head. "There should be a hole in the floor somewhere that'll let us get to the second floor." Sure enough, he was right. In one of the rooms there was a stack of furniture and a new hole in the ceiling where one hadn't been before. AJ helped Lila up the makeshift ladder and quickly climbed up after her.

They walked around checking the other rooms without much luck. Most of the rooms, like everywhere else, were locked and appeared to be impossible to open. One thing that surprised the two was that half of this floor was completely blocked off. The floor was split in half where the first half of the floor was connected to the second and it was far too large to jump across. That split, however, didn't appear in the rooms. They turned and started checking the rooms closest to the split to get to the other side of the floor. Unfortunately, there was only one door that was open, and the door to the other half appeared to be blocked by rubble. At the top of the rubble, however, was a small opening that _maybe_ Lila could fit through. AJ was slightly too big.

"What do we do now?" Lila asked. AJ didn't get the chance to answer as the static spiked again. Nurses and Jilts suddenly began to pour into the room, slowly, but enough that kept the two kids from escaping. Lila grabbed onto AJ's vest and began shaking. AJ turned and removed her grip.

"Lila," he began, "I want you to climb up that rubble and get to the other side. You'll be safer there." He pulled out his flashlight and the walkie talkie and placed it in her hands. Lila quickly hid the items and looked up at him, terrified of what he was asking her to do. "I'll get there, Lila, but I can't fight them all and protect you at the same time. Go and, no matter what, don't look back." He smiled softly at her as he pulled the shovel from his back and turned to face the monsters.

Without hesitating, she began to climb the rubble while AJ stayed at the floor and started to fight. She heard a sickening crack and something being broken. She looked back for only a second to see he'd broken the shovel over a Nurse's head. He took the now somewhat pointed handle and slammed it into the back of the Nurse's head, getting it stuck in the process. He quickly pulled out the hatchet and picked up the scalpel the Nurse held, turned toward the others and charged, headlong, into the swarm of approaching monsters. Lila kept climbing until she reached the opening. She managed to squeeze through but just barely. As she landed on the other side of the rubble she could still hear the fighting taking place in the other room as well as the sickening screams of the monsters that were being damaged and killed.

'Please be okay,' Lila silently prayed. A loud noise of something being thrown into the rubble made her jump.

"Lila? What are you still doing here? Get out of here! Run, now!" AJ shouted from the other side of the rubble. She looked up to see AJ looking at her from the small opening in the rubble. She didn't attempt to move as she watched a Nurse pin him before getting kicked off. "GO! NOW!" The sheer forcefulness of his tone had her running away. She ran through the hotel, trying to find a place to hide, and never looked back.

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><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Zero: WHOOOO! PYRAMID HEAD!**

**Rendan: He's never going to not do that, I think. Still, fucking shock. Now the duo is separated... what happens now?**

**Me: You'll have to wait and see.**

**Rendan: -sighs- Well, no choice BUT to wait anyway.**

**Zero: Who cares about the fucking wait? We got Pyramid Head!**

**-everyone sweatdrops-**

**Me: Well, at least someone's happy. Now, let's do our first ever monster dictionary.**

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><p><strong>Name: Jilt<br>Description: A hunched monster with skin the color of dried blood. It has no eyes but has a mouth with multiple rows of teeth of varying sharpness. Its right hand is almost nonexistent, instead being 'sharpened' to a bladed point. Its left hand is very much like a club, the bulge that makes up the club pulsates as the creature moves and attacks. While the creature at first moves slow, it is also capable of quick bursts of speed to tackle and catch prey. It mostly would bludgeon its prey on the head first or stab it in a vital area before using its teeth to finish the job.  
>Speed: Slow-fast<br>****Attack Methods: Stabbing, biting, tearing and bludgeoning.  
>Symbolism: The Jilt represents a jilted lover, a lover who was suddenly dumped for no discernible reason. Its left hand is a play on the phrase, "You held my heart in your hand," seeing as its clubbed hand pulses very much like a beating heart would. The bladed hand represents the sharp pain in one's heart upon being dumped or abandoned by someone that they truly cared for. The varying sharpness of the teeth are synonymous with how one could describe the events leading to the breakup. Whether it be quick and sharp or dull and long coming.<strong>

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><p><strong>Rendan: Damn.<strong>

**Zero: That's some messed up stuff right there.**

**Me: Well, it had to come from my mind first.**

**Zero: You are one sick puppy.**

**Me: If you're only figuring this out now I've got some bad news for you.**

**Rendan: Seriously, he's been this way for forever.**

**Me: Damn right. And I love every second of it.**

**Zero: I suppose that'll do it for this week.**

**Rendan: Be good and be safe everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!**


	10. A Hotel Made For Hell

**Me: And here's Chapter 10!**

**Rendan: About time this one came out.**

**Zero: Especially after that damned cliffhanger. Even if I was satisfied with Pyramid Head's actions.**

**Me: Well, that cliffhanger's going to be 'resolved' in this chapter.**

**Rendan: Why do I hate the way you said that?**

**Me: Dunno.**

**Zero: Well, there are more spoilers in this chapter, so, read at your own discretion, readers. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All he owns are the plot and the monsters he creates. Hey! There's a Silent Hill reference there!**

**Rendan: The only ones who'll get it have played Homecoming. Or those who've done their research.**

**Me: True. Also, thanks for handling the disclaimer, Zero.**

**Zero: S'what I do.**

**Rendan: Correctly, hopefully.**

**Zero: GODDAMMIT!**

**Me: -snickers- Read and enjoy.**

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><p><span>Chapter 10: A Hotel Made For Hell<span>

Walking on the cold hard grates of the Otherworld was not fun. This was something both Arnold and Helga could attest to. The siren had blared only moments ago and the duo watched as the very ground they walked on was ripped up, leaving only a grated floor beneath them which seemed to hover over a large pit with seemingly no bottom. Arnold gulped and took the key from Helga gripping it tightly in his hands, feeling that if he dropped that item, he may just ruin their only chance of escaping from Silent Hill. Both kids kept up a steady breathing pattern, if only to keep some kind of normalcy in their walk through what was, in all other words, Hell. No trees, no grass, just a grated floor over a bottomless pit.

"H-hey, Football Head," Helga stammered out. Arnold blinked and turned to Helga. "Do you really think those notes can help us get out of this nightmare?" Arnold turned his gaze down to the pit beneath them. He didn't say anything for a while. He simply gazed down into the abyss, trying to think of what he could say. In truth, he didn't know _what_ to say. He didn't know what to tell her.

It was entirely possible that these notes he was finding could lead them to a dead end or, worse still, to their deaths. In a place like this, that was all too real a scenario. Would these little notes help them? Could the Path of Victims really give them hints on how to escape? Arnold recalled the first note and thought on it. It had said to accept the inner darkness all of mankind possesses.

But... he didn't have any darkness inside him! Did he? Could he really turn out like Eddie? Either way, his, Helga's and Lila's journey in Silent Hill would most likely be recorded in the Path of Victims. The one thing that bothered him was how they would be remembered. Would they be remembered as survivors or just more of the damned?

"I hope so, Helga," Arnold finally replied. Helga turned her gaze toward him only to see him staring through the grates they were walking on into the abyss. "I really hope so." Helga let out a small breath as the silhouette of the hotel appeared in the distance. The radio Helga held maintained it's silence the whole way through, a small factor which brought both kids a fair amount of hope. The fewer monsters they encountered, the quicker they'd be able to escape. Then again, the words of the boy they'd met in Silent Hill rang in their ears.

_"After a while, you won't be able to run anymore and when that happens, it's kill or be killed."_

Arnold shuddered as that sentence rang throughout his head. He tightened his grip and started breathing slightly faster. Helga, on the other hand, was now looking at the black sky. She shut her eyes as if going into deep concentration and began to think more on the subject of actually fighting the monsters instead of just running away. She'd thought about this once before, though she was quickly brought out of her musings when she remembered she had a job to do at the time. She shook her head, resolving to cross that bridge when she came back to it.

They approached the hotel on the side, finding the only door leading inside was locked. Arnold shakily took the key in his hand and placed it in the lock. Hearing that beautiful click when the lock was undone, he pushed the door open, revealing the pitch blackness of the hotel. They walked inside and began to check rooms, once more, finding a solid majority of them locked. In one of the rooms they'd been able to walk in, they found the furniture stacked to allow access to the above floor via a hole in the ceiling.

Arnold and Helga explored the rest of the floor, finding the way they'd prefer to take upstairs to be completely destroyed. Another thing they noticed was the two dead bodies in front of the staircase. One was of a Nurse like the one they'd seen at the hospital, only it was missing its head, and the other was a creature they'd never seen before. It looked to be missing an arm and, if what they guessed was true, that thing sticking out of its head _was_ its other arm. Helga shuddered at the sheer brutality of the scene in front of them while Arnold found his hands tightening around the handle of his bat.

"Who did this?" Helga asked in no more than a whisper. Arnold audibly gulped.

"M-maybe Lila and AJ came through here," Arnold said, though even he didn't think the boy traveling with Lila would be capable of doing this. Not with that knife he had anyway. The two turned around and headed back into the room with the stacked furniture. They climbed up the makeshift ladder and walked around the second floor, running into a large tear in the floor that was too large to jump across. From the looks of it, they'd have to find a way onto the other side of the floor through one of the rooms.

Sadly for them, the only room that was not only unlocked but had a way onto the other half of the floor looked like it was a war zone. Dead bodies littered the floor. Some bodies belonged to Nurses while others belonged to that weird monster they'd seen dead on the first floor. Another odd thing was the broken shovel lying in two separate places in the room. The metal head was lying on the floor with a large red splotch on it while the longer end was standing upright inside of a Nurse's head. One body, however, stuck out from all the others. The body itself was about their height if not slightly bigger. Just like the body Arnold and Helga had seen in the school, this body was also skinned with several bones sticking out at random places. Two things that made this body different, however, were the hatchet in its right hand and the crudely altered military vest it was wearing.

"Arnold..." Helga began, "you don't think..." Helga couldn't even bring herself to finish that statement.

"I... don't know," Arnold admitted. He walked closer to the body and examined it. After a moment, he nodded his head solemnly. "It's him. This is his vest." Arnold didn't have to say who it was; they both knew. After a short moment of silence, since it was all they could afford to spend, Arnold reached down and pulled off the vest from the body.

"Criminy, Football Head! How about some respect for the dead?" Helga all but shouted. Arnold kept his back to her as he pulled the vest, with great difficulty, over his head and over his shirt. He turned back to Helga and stared at her with serious eyes. His eyes were more serious than any she'd ever seen before.

"Anything to survive in this place," was all he said. Helga couldn't be sure but, for a moment, she saw AJ standing next to Arnold saying the exact same thing. She remembered that he had said it when they'd first met. Arnold looked up to the rubble blocked doorway. He climbed up and looked through the hole. "He was trapped." Helga shot her gaze from the dead body to Arnold. "He couldn't fit trough the hole and so he fought until his death. He didn't even have enough time to try and make the opening larger before the things attacked."

"What about Lila?" Helga asked, shocking Arnold slightly in the process. When did she really care about Lila? He turned to face her, the shock still present on his face. Helga noticed the look in his eyes and commented. "Hey, I may not like her but she doesn't deserve to _die_ in a place like this!" Arnold shifted his gaze back to the hole and started to move some of the rubble aside, making the hole bigger. When it was finally big enough for him to get through, he climbed through with Helga following him shortly after. The two took a final look back at the final resting place for their ally and moved forward.

"Lila would've been able to get through that hole," Arnold stated. "He might've told her to escape while he fought all those monsters." Helga looked to Arnold and nodded. As they walked through the hotel, they heard a soft crying coming from one of the rooms. It was faint but just loud enough for them to hear. They followed the sound to the room where it was the loudest and easily opened the door. Once the door opened, the crying stopped. Arnold and Helga looked at each other before carefully walking inside. One thing that they noticed, though, was that there was no static on the radio.

"Do you think–?" Helga began in a whisper.

"Let's find out," Arnold whispered back. "Lila? Are you in here?" There was nothing but silence for a second until a meek voice was heard.

"A- Arnold? Is that you?" There was no doubt about it. That was Lila.

"It's okay, Lila. It's me and Helga." Arnold suddenly found himself tackled by Lila who grabbed him in a hug.

"I can't believe you're okay!" Lila happily cried. She looked and smiled at Helga but her face fell when she noticed the lack of a third person in their party. "Where is he?" It was only then when she noticed a particular garment Arnold was wearing that he was not wearing before. Even worse, it was exactly what AJ wore, with the tear on the left side from when the Jilt tried to stab him. "W-where did you get that vest?" Helga and Arnold could hear the dread in her voice. Helga sighed as her gaze shifted to the floor, finding it very interesting. Arnold shut his eyes and shook his head back and forth slowly.

"I'm sorry," Arnold sincerely said. "He's dead. We found his body in the room with the door blocked off by the rubble." Lila dropped to her knees and started crying. She wasn't even sure why she was crying as hard as she was. No, she knew why. AJ'd lied to her, even if he didn't mean to. He was supposed to train her! He was supposed to help her escape with Arnold and Helga! They were all supposed to escape!

"It's my fault..." Lila whispered to herself. Unfortunately for her, Arnold and Helga heard her.

"It's not your fault, Lila," Arnold began.

"Yeah. There's nothing you could've done. If you had stayed, you would both be dead in there." That didn't make Lila feel any better.

"I could've tried!" She shouted, tears still falling from her eyes. "I could've helped him fight! I could've... I- I could've..." Lila's voice became overcome with sorrow as she began to cry, her sobs drowning out the words she wanted to say. Arnold and Helga helped Lila to her feet and helped her steady herself. "It's my fault..."

Arnold and Helga looked at Lila with no small amount of sympathy. They could understand, even if only a little, why she felt this way. She had been there. However, what they couldn't understand is why she'd stay back if she was only going to get herself killed.

"Lila," Arnold began. Lila looked up to him, her eyes still full with tears. "Don't let his sacrifice be in vain. He stayed back while you got away so you could escape from this place. Don't let his final gift to you be for nothing." Though her eyes were still full of tears, she nodded lightly, but Helga could see something in the way Lila carried herself at this point. She blamed herself for AJ's death.

She blamed herself because he sacrificed himself so she could live. There was one other thing that Helga noticed that had her think about Lila's mental state as it was. She had AJ's combat knife in her hands. How had she missed that before? If Lila blamed herself for his death, would she go so far as to kill herself?

"Hey, Football Head," Helga whispered, getting Arnold's attention. She walked up to him and whispered in his ear so Lila wouldn't hear. "She has AJ's knife in her hands. Do you think she'll... you know... kill herself because she feels guilty?"

"Stop talking crazy, Helga!" Arnold shouted. In truth, he'd only done that as a means to make it appear that he wouldn't even consider the possibility. After reading the two forms for the Path of Victims, however, he honestly wasn't so sure. It was possible, especially if Silent Hill affected a broken mind the way it affected Eddie Dombrowski. Lila seemed broken over a sacrifice, so how was she going to handle everything else this town was capable of doing to someone? He shook his head. "C'mon, Lila. From now on we have to stick together." Lila nodded and followed Arnold and Helga as they quickly searched the room and moved on to the rest of the floor.

The trio entered another room that was open, finding it to be nearly empty except for a large bloody hole in the wall. When Helga went to examine it, she saw something shiny inside and heard a low growl or perhaps some kind of roar come from it as well. Helga gulped and slowly backed away from the hole. As she backed up, she knocked over a small item on a dresser and it fell to the floor with a resounding crash. Amongst the shattered pieces was a small key. Arnold walked over to the shattered item and picked up the key.

As the three walked throughout the hotel, the radio stayed suspiciously quiet. It was somewhat odd, considering just where they were and how many monsters Lila had seen before. Where did they all go? Did they simply vanish or... were they lying in wait for the three students?

Lila kept moving her eyes back and forth as they walked through the hotel. Eventually they found a way to get up to the third floor. Surprisingly, it was a staircase that wasn't broken. Without a word they moved up to the third floor, hopefully to find something that could be helpful to them. As they reached the third floor they heard the static on the radio suddenly spike but saw no monsters. There was one thing, however, that seemed out of place. They heard a bird chirping. After a moment, the static stopped as did the bird's chirping. Lila started breathing heavily much to the confusion of Arnold and Helga.

"We have to hide," Lila said softly. "Quickly!"

"Why?" Helga asked.

"That bird is used by The Order! They're close!" Arnold and Helga opened the nearest room and rushed inside it. Barely a moment later the three students heard footsteps walking by the door and down the steps, followed by chirping, bloodcurdling screams and the sound of something hitting the floor. The students visibly paled. Arnold stood back up after a moment and looked around the room, finding a few health drinks and some metal ammo for Helga.

The rest of the floor wasn't much better. Most of the rooms on the floor were accessible but had nothing of value in them. At the end of the floor was a final door that was locked. Arnold pulled out the key and unlocked the door. The door, surprisingly, swung open the second it was unlocked. They entered cautiously and looked around. In the room was a small television set that, for whatever reason, was turned on with a large armchair sitting in front of it. On the chair was another note. Arnold picked it up and read its contents.

_Surprise, surprise, you actually decided to come here. You've got guts, Arnold, I'll give you that. What? You thought I didn't know who you were? Who do you think wrote these notes? I know EVERYTHING, Arnold. That's beside the point. You're reading this to learn about James Sunderland, correct? Correct. Ah, where to begin with this basket case? Well, for starters, he came here to search for his wife. Normally, that may seem rather normal, right? Well, it was different for one huge reason. His wife was dead. That's right. She was dead. In fact, in his twisted fantasy she'd been dead for years._

_Now why did I say she was dead for years in his fantasy? Simple, really. She had died very recently. Possibly within a week recently, yet James had convinced himself that his wife, Mary, had been dead for years. Actually, he fought her right on top of this very hotel... or... was it Maria that he fought? Hard to remember in this place, sometimes, especially when dealing with such a... special case. The reason I say special is because no one knows what happened to him. No one knows if James survived or joined the ranks of the damned. He just... vanished. Well, to say the least, he was a truly messed up case. The man killed his own wife and convinced himself that the illness she was afflicted with did it._

_In fact, it's because of him that Pyramid Head is here. If you haven't met him yet consider yourself lucky. Not many meet him and live to talk about it. I'd dare say NONE do anymore. The guilt James felt for the murder of his wife gave birth to the eternal avenger known as Pyramid Head. No, avenger is the wrong word. PUNISHER. That word works better. He's drawn to anyone that feels guilty for something or feels that they should be punished. If you know someone with either or both of those emotions, feelings, whatever you wish to call them, be careful. Pyramid Head could be following you right now._

_Anyway, your next target is Harry Mason. To find the next form you'll have to backtrack a bit. This next form is back in the elementary school. Be careful though, I hear something truly terrifying tends to walk the halls of that school._

Arnold looked down at the form in horror. What kind of person could actually do the things that the form mentioned? The very thought that all of this was true was more than enough to drain all of the color from Arnold's face. He looked directly at Lila who he knew was feeling guilty for what had happened earlier.

"Lila," he began, making Lila turn to face him, "what do you know about... Pyramid Head?" The very fact that Lila's face lost all color in a split second told him that this figure was nothing that should be trifled with. Lila was about to answer until a siren blared in the distance. That was the last thing any of them heard before the world went black.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter. Arnold, Helga and Lila fall deeper into the madness of Silent Hill and I get to have me a cup of hot chocolate.<strong>

**Rendan: You're a jackass.**

**Me: Why do you say that?**

**Zero: AJ basically promised Lila he'd train her and you KILLED HIM OFF!**

**Me: Oh well. Too fucking bad.**

**Rendan: Seriously?**

**Me: Seriously.**

**Zero: Have you no soul?**

**Me: Nope. Sold that roughly... ten years ago. Got me a pop-tart out of it. Oh wait, maybe that was what I sold recently for that cupcake.**

**Rendan: I think he's finally lost it.**

**Zero: Took him long enough. _Especially _if he's writing for fucking SILENT HILL!**

**Me: Nope, I haven't lost it... yet.**

**Rendan: Well, you're still insane.**

**Me: That _is_ my job, after all. Anyway, I think that'll do it for this time.**

**Zero: Be good-**

**Rendan: And be safe, everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!**


	11. The Order

**AJ: Chapter 11 is up!**

**Rendan: W-What the hell are you doing here?**

**AJ: Well, this is my story isn't it?**

**Zero: Well... it was until you died.**

**AJ: What's your point?**

**Rendan: How exactly are you so calm about this?**

**AJ: Maybe because everything happens for a reason. Azard knows what he's doing.**

**Zero: That's debatable.**

**Me: -appears out of nowhere- I heard that.**

**Rendan and Zero: HOLY SHIT!**

**AJ: Nice entrance.**

**Me: I thought so too.**

**AJ: I've got the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are owned by Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. All he owns are the OCs that'll eventually appear, the monsters he's created and the plot.**

**Me: Thank you. Well, without further delay, read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11: The Order<span>

Silence. Something the three students were by far used to in the town of Silent Hill. Normally, they considered it a blessing. In this case however, it was anything but. Arnold and Helga immediately knew where they were from what they saw when they opened their eyes. They were in the lair of The Order. They attempted to move to no avail. Arnold, Helga and Lila had been placed in separate chairs with their arms and legs strapped down. It wasn't much longer before they heard Lila whimpering next to them.

Arnold turned his head to face the red head. Her eyes wide open with terror, she began to thrash wildly in an attempt to free herself. No good. Like the others, the bonds holding Lila kept her immobile. She looked to her right to see Arnold looking at her. Her breathing steadied slightly at seeing Arnold attempt to give her a calm stare. Obviously an attempt to help the poor girl relax.

The three took the opportunity to look around, getting a better grip of their surroundings. The room they were in appeared to be some type of medical lab. On several of the counters around the room were multiple vials, some with odd liquid in them. What it was, however, was up for speculation.

Several bloodied tools sat around in various areas around the room. The blades that hung over the edge of the counters all dripped blood on the floor in an almost synchronized drip. The life sustaining fluid puddled just underneath the dripping weapons, some of it starting form a small stream leading to the chairs the three were strapped to. The blood seemed to be beckoning to the kids, inviting the blood in their own bodies to join that which was already spilled, sending horrific chills up their spines.

The door to the room was open, a surprise considering most of the rooms themselves were normally locked and they'd never seen this room. Outside the door could be described as pure darkness. That was all that was able to be seen. A long, dark hallway stretching for who knew how long. With the predicament the three were in, it certainly seemed endless, almost engulfing, really.

The darkness itself seemed as if it was plotting to draw them into its abyss where they would suffer for eternity. Thankfully for them the room was lit, albeit barely. A dim light shined from behind them, casting an eerie orange glow on the room.

"So, you're all finally awake," a voice called from the darkness. As the three stared out into the darkened hallway, a figure began to form and emerge from the darkness, then two and three up to seven. The first three that entered were clearly adults. From height alone, that much was obvious. The three took positions around the three trapped students. The tallest, appearing to be in his late thirties, standing directly in front of them while the other two flanked the three.

The oldest of the initial trio, the one standing in front of them, appeared to be a man in his late twenties. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a plaid shirt. He had dark eyes and short nearly black hair. He had a muscular face but held an eerie gentleness to it. He stood with his back to the darkness, halfway submerged in the shadows leaving nothing behind him visible.

The other two appeared to be siblings or possibly twins, most likely in their late teens. Their facial features were exactly alike. They both had dirty blond hair with dull blue eyes. They even wore the same clothes, blue jeans with a dark red shirt. The other four stood perfectly symmetrical on either side of the man staring at the trio.

Something about the other four was off, though. They were only as tall as Arnold, Helga and Lila, perhaps a bit shorter. All of them were garbed in black robes that reached the ground. The robes had hoods which were all concealing the faces of the four short Order members. Arnold, Helga and Lila stared at the short members in a sort of horror. Silently, they hoped that the robed figures weren't what the trio thought they were.

"Who among the four of you can tell me who these three in our presence are?" The Order member on the left of the students asked.

"Heretics," the four robed figures answered in perfectly synchronized monotone, confirming the fears of the trio. The robed figures were just kids.

"And what does She say should happen to any heretics and non-believers?" The middle man questioned.

"They must repent to God or be killed," the four replied, again, in perfect sync. "They must follow the order of God as She decreed to truly be saved. Should they not, eternal damnation awaits them. Whether by our hands or theirs, they will follow God or die." That small factor alone scared the hell out of Helga, Arnold and Lila. They were only kids and were brainwashed into believing the insanity that was The Order.

"That is correct, children of God," the member to the right of the students praised while keeping his eyes on the them. His smile seemed calm which made it all the more terrifying. The fact that he was prepared to hurt and kill without care, a trait best suited for serial killers and sociopaths.

This trait, however, seemed common for Silent Hill which was a factor that was repeatedly and rapidly becoming more evident the longer they stayed here. The man standing directly in front of the trio leaned closer to the them with a soft, uncaring smile.

"What say you, children?" The middle cultist queried. "Will you cast aside your heathen ways and join The Order? It would be a shame to waste such valuable life when you could simply join us and bask in Her glory." His expression never changed as he spoke. He'd done something similar before, that much was clear. The students didn't answer, prompting the cultist to turn to the four children standing next to him. "Go along, young ones. I shall call you if you are to end a heretic's existence this day."

The children bowed lowly and filed out, one behind the other, walking directly into the darkness before vanishing in its infinite blackness. The middle cultist turned back to his prisoners.

"W-well," Arnold stuttered, coming up with a hasty plan, "what does joining The Order do for us?" The cultists smiled widely.

"Salvation," he replied in an elated tone. It was as if he truly believed his answer. Arnold noticed this and, thinking on his feet, decided to distract the cultists until either Helga or Lila could think of some kind of way to escape.

"You enlighten your youth as early as possible," Arnold stated in a serious tone, leaving Helga and Lila staring at him wide-eyed.

'He can't be seriously buying this crap!' Helga thought. 'No, he's not... He's stalling! Alright, let's see, how can we get out of this mess?' Helga immediately started to look at their predicament and looked for anything that could possibly give them some chance at escape. Unfortunately, she couldn't find one.

"Of course, young heathen," the cultist commented. "We teach them as early as possible, so that they too may be accepted into Her loving embrace!" The cultists surrounding the three students grinned. The cultist looked at the trio almost sadly for a moment. "It's a pity that the fourth of your group has died. He would've made an excellent convert."

Lila dropped her head, the pain still fresh, as she looked to her hands; the very hands that failed to protect someone, the same hands that were indirectly responsible for the death of a friend. Arnold looked from Lila to the cultist, finding a malevolent glint in his sorrowful expression. His eyes betrayed a look of fear as realization suddenly sunk in.

'He's playing to her emotions,' Arnold realized. What made matters worse was that he was good at what he did. This man knew fully well how to take a the most pained emotions and use them to make that individual do what suited his needs. A terrifying yet potent and powerful skill.

"We offered him salvation," the cultist continued, "yet he repeatedly denied our generous offers. We could've protected him. After all, we watch out for our own. We are all Her children." Helga, by this time, was at her breaking point. There was only so much bullshit she could take before she snapped and that last monologue did it.

"What a load of crap!" Helga angrily shouted. The three cultists all focused their eyes on her.

"Care to explain what is, as you say, 'crap', young heathen?" The center cultist questioned in an eerily calm tone, as if his anger was still brewing inside of him and he was looking for an excuse to let it all loose.

"You people watch out for your own," Helga said calmly. "If you watch out for each other like you say you do, then why does the Guardian kill you off as easily as he does? He can walk in anywhere and kill as many of you as he sees fit! If you really watch out for each other, why haven't you prevented any of these deaths? In fact, it's because you're members of this stupid cult that the Guardian targets you! We'd be better off on our own than following some loons like you!" Helga's voice rose into a defiant yell as her tirade went on. The cultists, however, remained unreadable through everything. Anything they could've been thinking was a complete mystery as their faces betrayed no emotion. They merely stared with dull eyes.

Arnold looked from Helga to the cultist repeatedly, wondering what course of action he'd take. The cultist moved up to Helga and cupped her face with one of his hands. He smiled grimly at her as he turned her face left and right, examining her. The cultist released his grip as he turned around and stared into the black hallway, the smile never leaving his face.

All of this seemed to have an effect on Lila, though. She had ceased staring at her hands and was now glaring defiantly at the cultists, her eyes still brimming with tears from the still fresh wound they reminded her of. Arnold could only stare at Lila in a small amount of disbelief. All was quiet for a moment, a deadly, deafening silence that seemed to last for an eternity. What ended the silence, however, made everyone jump.

An earsplitting, bloodcurdling scream erupted from the darkness. The voice itself crying in a pain never before brought to man. The cultists stiffened.

"You!" The center cultist pointed at one of the twins. "Go check out there!" The twin nodded and walked out of the room into the darkened hallway. Again, there was only silence. Everyone in the room was becoming unnerved, expecting another scream to pierce through the darkness, but nothing ever came. The cultist that had left stalked back into the room with a shrug.

"I couldn't find anything, sir," he stated. The oldest cultist turned himself back to face the students instead of facing the darkness, fear and worry etched on his once emotionless face. The twins stiffened as another figure started to emerge from the darkness. To their relief, it was one of the Order children, one that was slightly taller than the three prisoners. He wore his hooded robe so it concealed his face just as the others did.

"My apologies," the child said in a clearly male but somewhat sickly voice. "I... had a nightmare." The cultists looked down to the child and rubbed his hooded head.

"Be peaceful, child," he attempted to console the boy. "One day, the Guardian shall die and we will have nothing further to truly fear in Silent Hill."

"What about Pyramid Head?" Arnold asked. All Order members in the room visibly stiffened. The center cultist looked up to Arnold.

"That monstrosity lives?" He all but cried. "N-No! That can't be! That monster died years ago!" The small cultist tilted his head slightly before quickly righting it, as if the statement confused him somewhat. "Suddenly the deaths of our brethren make sense. If the Guardian didn't do it, that monster certainly did. The immortal punisher of Silent Hill."

"We will never be safe," the child spoke cryptically, making the other three cultists look to him. "Even if the Guardian dies, Pyramid Head will hunt us... forever."

"T-that isn't true, my child," one of the dirty blonde cultists said.

"He is right," the center cultist stated. "Once She comes to us, she'll end the punisher's eternal reign, a new era of life shall begin. One without sin, without guilt and without worry."

'The more they talk, the crazier they sound,' Helga mused. Helga was watching the youngest cultist carefully. His concealed face seemed to be scanning her and her friends, almost as if he was expecting them to do something... or perhaps there was another reason. Lila was still staring, terrified, at the darkness. She looked to the robed child in disbelief, not believing that one so young could release a scream that terrifying.

The three adults shook their heads and retook their positions around the trio of prisoners. The child, however stepped behind the center cultist and effectively vanished into the darkness. However, there was something that caught the students' eyes. A flash of something possibly made of steel, followed by a cry of pain as the center cultist found himself pierced through the stomach by a blade. The robed child reached into the cultist's pocket with his left hand and pulled out a six-shot revolver, a snub nose 357. He turned to the cultist on the left, the fastest draw, and shot him three times, twice in the chest and once in the head.

The final cultist pulled out a pistol and opened fire on the child. He swung himself around with the cultist he'd pierced and let every bullet fired hit his human shield, though no shot on its own was fatal. The child raised the revolver and shot the final three bullets, nearly mirroring his previous kill; two shots in the chest, one of which pierced the cultist's heart and a final bullet placed between the eyes. The child cleanly slid the blade from the stomach of the Order member he'd pierced, letting him hit the ground before retrieving the blade. Thanks to the speed he drew the blade with, the hood concealing his appearance fell, revealing his face.

The adrenaline gone from his system, the child turned to the three prisoners, still concealed in the darkness. He began to breathe heavily, the finality of what just passed setting in. The child took a few steps forward, allowing the dim light to reveal him. He glanced to the three before speaking.

"You three," here the speaker panted, "are so _fucking_ lucky!" For Arnold, Helga and Lila, though, they couldn't think about the kills at the moment. The only thing that passed through their minds was a single word. A word that conveyed the destruction of something they'd once believed as a finality.

'Impossible.'

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: Wait, WHAT THE FUCK?**

**AJ: What?**

**Zero: What the fuck is with that ending?**

**Me: Eh? Just wait until**** next chapter.**

**AJ: We'll have to wait and see.**

**Rendan: I swear you two are acting weird.**

**AJ: Silent Hill.**

**Rendan: Right... forgot that factor.**

**Zero: I did too.**

**AJ: That's it for this week. Be good and be safe everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!**


	12. Return

**Me: And here's Chapter 12!**

**Rendan: About damn time.**

**Zero: Seriously man. Who the fuck came to the rescue this time?**

**Me: This time?**

**AJ: Technically, the incident in the school counts as a first.**

**Me: Seriously? Well, I suppose that's true. Anyway, you'll just have to read and find out.**

**Zero: You're an evil bastard.**

**Me: And you're only learning this now?**

**Zero: Shut up.**

**Rendan: I'll handle the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Hey Arnold or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. The only thing he owns are the OCs, monsters he created and the fucked up monstrosity he calls a plot.**

**Me: Aw, you love it and you know it.**

**Rendan and Zero: That's besides the point.**

**AJ: -snickers- Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 12: Return<span>

The P.S. 118 students sat flabbergasted and disbelieving at the sight in front of them. The child who'd seemingly turned on the cultists was looking directly at them. There was only one problem with what the students saw. It should've been impossible! There is no way in Hell that the boy currently standing in front of them was actually there.

"What's wrong with you three?" The boy asked as he moved to them and sliced their bonds with the long blade in his hand. The blade was slightly curved but cut through the straps on the chairs like a hot knife through butter.

"How are you alive!" Arnold exclaimed.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Helga yelled. Lila only looked into the boy's hazel eyes before a realization dawned on her. This wasn't a trick... He was really there.

"It's really you, isn't it... AJ?" Lila barely managed to question, her tone holding its own form of disbelief and confusion.

"The one and only!" AJ proudly declared as he slid the sword he held into the sheath on the left side of his waist. He glanced to Arnold and saw that he was wearing a military vest. "Nice vest!"

"It's _your_ vest!" Arnold shouted.

"It is?" AJ queried, clearly confused. He glanced down after removing the black robe to see the vest he was still wearing before turning his attention to Arnold's then back to his rapidly. "But I'm wearing my vest." He tried to move his left arm a bit only to grimace in clear pain as he tried. As everyone turned their attention to it, they saw a very large, visible bump sticking out of his shoulder. "Hey, Arnold, think you can do me a favor?"

"Changing the subject?" Arnold questioned.

"Only for the moment. I need to relocate my shoulder."

"Relocate?" Helga asked.

"When I used that gun I dislocated my shoulder and it hurts... a lot. Now, if you'd be so kind as to help, I can relocate it." Arnold didn't quite understand how he intended to do that, but he _did _want to help. After all, it was the least he could do after the boy clearly saved their lives.

"What do you need me to do?" Arnold questioned.

"Hold my left arm up." Arnold complied and held his arm nearly level with his shoulder. AJ glanced around and motioned to Lila. "Lila, find me a cloth or something I can bite on."

"Bite on?" Lila asked in confusion.

"You'll thank me for this later," AJ stated. Lila was about to grab the robe from the floor before she was stopped. "Not that, I'm going to need that as it is later." She glanced around and picked up a far from clean rag on the counter. It was bloody but was the only thing she could find. "That's fine, hand it over." Lila approached and placed the rag into his hand, watching as he bunched the rag into a ball and bit down on it. "Now hold onto my arm until I'm done," he said, his voice muffled but still understood through the rag. Arnold nodded in clear confusion of what the boy was planning to do. That confusion was quickly destroyed when AJ placed his right hand on the bump on his shoulder.

'He can't be serious!' Arnold thought. With a quick and violent jerk, AJ forcefully relocated his shoulder, letting out a muffled but extremely loud and pained yell as a sickening crack echoed throughout the hideout, proof that the bone in his shoulder had been moved. He was right about one thing, they were thankful he asked for that rag to muffle the scream, though hearing that audible crack was no picnic. Arnold released AJ's arm the second the scream pierced his ears. What person could do something like that? With deep gasps, trying to catch his breath from that bloodcurdling yell, AJ let the bloodied rag fall from his mouth and land on the floor.

"T-thanks for that," AJ stuttered out through small grunts of pain. The three students stared at him in disbelief. He just _painfully_ relocated his own shoulder. AJ, still unable to move his left arm, reached into the left pocket on the breast of his vest with his right hand and pulled out a small bottle. He casually popped off the lid with his thumb and drank the contents of the bottle. After a moment he moved his left arm and flexed his fingers. "Nothing like a health drink to heal what ails you."

"You had a health drink?" Helga asked.

"Yeah," he replied, once more moving his left shoulder. "I always keep a health drink in my left pocket for emergencies." For whatever reason, Arnold felt compelled to check the left pocket of the vest he was wearing. If the vest he was wearing really was _his_ vest, there may be a health drink still sitting inside the left pocket. Arnold slowly reached into the pocket and, lo and behold, removed a health drink from the pocket. He stared at it, not sure what to make of it.

'A health drink,' Arnold thought. Helga and Lila were looking at the health drink as well.

"Hey, Football Head, Army Brat, stand next to each other," Helga demanded. Arnold, just as confused as she was, obliged if only to settle what the hell was going on once and for all. AJ, on the other hand, merely shrugged before walking next to Arnold. He was more or less concerned with just what the hell Arnold meant by the fact that somehow his vest was being worn by _two_ people. As the two stood at the other's side, Helga motioned for Lila and both approached the two boys, examining every little detail on the vest. Lila made note of the slash on the left side of Arnold's vest, the spot where a Jilt had previously stabbed. She looked to AJ's vest to see the _same exact mark_ on the vest he wore.

As the two girls examined the vests, they had to admit they were completely identical, marks, slashes, gashes and all. From the crude alterations at the bottom to the name of the soldier on the vest. Even the handwriting of the name was the same.

"Who's the soldier that had the vest?" Helga questioned. The three students turned to AJ for some sort of explanation and, like always, he had one.

"Sergeant Michael Dorano... at least that's what he told me. He said he was an only child and I've never seen anyone else with his last name ever come to Silent Hill, much less another person in the military." Lila stayed silent, remembering him mention that he'd seen a lot of people come in and die at Pyramid Head's hands. Especially because of how long he said he's been here, it definitely spoke volumes about how many victims Silent Hill had claimed.

"You knew him?"

"Not well," AJ admitted. "He died not long after I met him and I ended up taking his vest for protection."

"But," Arnold began, "if his vest couldn't protect him, what makes you think it'd protect you?" AJ sighed.

"Because he was stupid enough to try and kill the immortal. He went up against Pyramid Head and got cut in half. I took the vest after Pyramid Head left. Unlike him, I know when I'm outclassed." Lila nodded her confirmation to that statement, an action that registered to both Arnold and Helga. Pyramid Head certainly outclassed everyone present and even the strongest among them was less than willing to even step near him. Arnold shook his head and started to walk into the darkness.

"For now, we should find our gear and get out of this forsaken place," Arnold said. The group nodded and began to follow him out until a soft thud sounded behind them. Their fourth member had been tripped and landed hard on the floor, hitting his face. When they noticed what had tripped him they backed up in shock. The cultist that had been pierced by the odd sword AJ had was tightly grasping onto his leg. AJ quickly turned himself and kicked the cultist solidly in the face, weakening the grip the cultist had on his leg enough to pull his leg out.

AJ stood up and kicked the cultist again in the head before picking him up by the collar of his shirt. The cultist groaned as he was painfully lifted up to face the boy. However, throughout all of this, the cultist kept a strange grin on his face.

"After all this time, I now know your fate," the cultist stated to the boy holding him up. All the children's eyes widened slightly. This man knew AJ? How was that even possible? "All these years," here the cultist coughed out a fair amount of blood, "and you haven't aged a damned day. You're a lucky bastard, AJ."

"How do you know me?" AJ all but shouted, giving the cultist a cold glare. The cultist's smile changed, going from a strange grin to almost a sincere expression of happiness.

"How long do you think you've been there?" The cultist asked, keeping that smile etched onto his pained face. Arnold and Helga turned their attention to the boy. Honestly, they'd wondered about it slightly, if only because of the fact that he was knowledgable about the town.

"A few days, maybe a week or two," AJ replied. It was the same answer he'd given to Lila and it was the truth. Or at least he _thought_ it was.

"You're wrong," the cultist coughed out with trace amounts of blood starting to run down his mouth. "You've been here far," the speaker paused to cough again as more blood poured from his mouth, "far longer than that."

"And how would you know that?" Helga asked, her own confusion near its paramount.

"Because I was in his elementary class," the cultist revealed. "You were one of the children that The Order kidnapped... roughly nineteen years ago." AJ unceremoniously dropped the cultist, his body trembling as his mind, based on the way his face had contorted itself, desperately tried to process the bombshell of information that just dropped on him. An eternity seemed to pass before the silence was finally broken.

"That's impossible!" AJ cried, finally finding his voice. The cultist smiled wider.

"Nothing is impossible for Silent Hill," he said. "Y-You disappeared. The teacher instinctively knew it was a kidnapping. Children had been disappearing as of late and no one knew why. Once I joined, I figured out why. They needed a child to become the Guardian. Someone that was young and could be easily integrated into The Order. T-The Order believes that you were the one that gave the Guardian his free will, though no one is quite sure how you did it. That's why, that's why you're here. That's why you're as ageless as Silent Hill. You were going to be a guinea pig for the cult's ambitions but you turned that ambition against them before they could kill it and start on you. That must've trapped you here."

"And you joined them," AJ solemnly stated.

"I was raised by a God fearing family. I believed in their vision, their view of a perfect world. A world without violence, one with peace and prosperity for all who believed in Her divine power." The cultist began to tear at the eyes. "I believed in peace. Was that so wrong?"

Arnold, Helga and Lila didn't know what to think. This man had joined The Order under the ideal that they'd soon live in a perfect world. He wanted that. And from the way he spoke, he _believed _in it, not in the false way, but true to his heart.

"Believing in a world of peace is not a bad thing," AJ stated, keeping his eyes glued to the floor and out of view. He raised his head, letting his dark glare lock onto the dying cultist's eyes. "It isn't wrong, but kidnapping and torturing innocent people is _not_ the way to go about bringing that world! A peaceful world cannot be founded on the torture and slaughter of the innocent!"

"Do you think," the cultist began, his words broken by his now starting sobs, "that you could forgive me? I- I haven't done what The Order has. I only believed in the perfect world."

"You orchestrated the deaths of so many innocent people. You killed for no other reason than to support a false world the cult envisioned. You supported the slaughter of those who merely had different beliefs than your own. Whatever Hell awaits you, it's no less than you deserve."

The cultist, though crying, nodded, almost agreeing to AJ's statement, as the life finally left his eyes and he dropped his head, never to rise again. AJ sighed as he watched his former classmate die. He picked up the black robe he dropped and once more placed it over his body. Walking out of the room, AJ reached behind the door and pulled out a large burlap sack before dropping it on the floor.

Arnold, the first of the students to move after what just occurred, opened the sack to find three more robes worn by the cultists, or at least the children did, along with their gear.

"How did you get this?"

"When I woke up after the siren sounded I noticed you three being carried off by The Order. I followed them to this place and watched which room they put your stuff in, as well as the room they put you three in. I grabbed your gear and a few disguises so we can get out without being noticed. It's our best option so please save any questions until we get the hell out of here."

The cloaks that were left on the floor were quickly picked up as the students slipped the robes on. With only a nod, they followed their ally, quietly, out of the cultist base once more.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: Woah, woah, woah. How in the hell is THAT possible?**

**AJ: How is what possible?**

**Zero: I think that's obvious.**

**Me: Are they talking about the vest? I admit, it IS a one-of-a-kind vest.**

**AJ: I think they are.**

**Me: Could be.**

**Zero: We weren't talking about that and you know it!**

**Me: Chill out. It's Silent Hill. It isn't supposed to make sense. It's supposed to fuck your mind twenty-some-odd ways to Sunday and deny your mind the cigarette afterward.**

**AJ: That's a crude metaphor.**

**Rendan: But effective.**

**AJ: True.**

**Me: Anyway, you all have my word that Arnold and Helga are going to be doing some grilling next chapter. That should clear a few things up... or just add some more questions. Also, before anyone makes this an issue, this story is pre-Homecoming. Alex Shepherd has not yet wandered into the madness of Silent Hill.**

**Zero: I can't say this enough. YOU. ARE. EVIL!**

**Me: And I bask in it. Anyway, that's it for this week. Be good and be safe, everyone! I'm outta here!**


	13. Keep Him or Leave Him?

**Me: And here's Chapter 13.**

**Zero: More unlucky 13 business?**

**Me: Could be.**

**Rendan: I think you enjoy writing this story a little too much.**

**AJ: What's wrong with that?**

**Zero: We can't understand jack shit of what's going on.**

**AJ and Me: ... That's kinda the fucking point.**

**Rendan: Do you two enjoy seeing us this confused.**

**AJ and Me: So much it should be illegal.**

**Zero: Do you two realize you're freaking us out with that?**

**AJ and Me: With what?**

**Rendan: ...Nevermind. I'll handle the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All he owns are the plot, the OCs... Freaky bastard, and the monsters he's created.**

**Me: Thanks for that, Rendan.**

**Rendan: Part of my job... but I'll admit I enjoy it, too.**

**AJ: Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 13: Keep Him or Leave Him?<span>

The doors to the cultist base creaked open loudly. The wall hiding the door was moved outward along with it as four robe-clad figures walked out and let the door slam shut. The door locked itself with a resounding click as the four figures walked, as calmly as they could possibly muster, out of the hospital and back out into the fog covered town. After the four were a safe distance away from the base, as safe as anything possibly could be in Silent Hill, they discarded their robes and made to catch their breaths.

AJ was the first to recover, strangely seeming only barely, if at all, winded by everything. Helga was next, removing herself from the ground and standing up straight, her erratic breathing being the only remaining indication that she'd been winded. Arnold regained his breath shortly after, righting himself from his bent position. Lila was last, not surprisingly, remaining hunched over with her arms wrapped around her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. Arnold and Helga helped her right herself, allowing Lila to finish regaining her stamina.

Seeing as they were out in the open, the four children searched around for a temporary safe haven. Since Arnold and Helga didn't want to head to the Bowl-O-Rama again, in case the Order had cultists waiting there for them, they found a temporary haven in a local strip club, Heaven's Night. The four walked in to a room with what appeared to be a runway with a large steel pole reaching from the floor to the ceiling in the furthest point in the runway. Several neon lights, one or two of women, hung around the room remaining lit. However long was anyone's guess.

There were a few tables set around the room with three chairs at each, all of them dusty from what could've been years of neglect. However, unlike many other places in Silent Hill, this place hadn't been destroyed in any way, shape or form. The three P.S. 118 students didn't have a clue as to where they were, but took a seat in a few of the chairs at a table. AJ grabbed a fourth chair and moved it over to where the others were sitting and plopped in the chair. Helga pulled out the small radio and turned it on, once more ushering in the dull roar of static.

"Well, that was fun," AJ said with a smile.

"You call that fun?" Arnold asked with a glare. "We could've died!"

"We _all_ could have," AJ stated in annoyance. "Don't think that you're the only ones that could've seen the white light."

"About that," Helga began, "how exactly are you alive?" Helga was doing an amazing job keeping her own shock and awe concealed. Then again, it wasn't the first time she'd repressed an emotion.

"Um... My heart is beating, I'm breathing, and I'm sitting right in front of you," AJ responded.

"That's not what I meant..." Helga groaned.

"Helga and Arnold said that they found your body in the hotel," Lila timidly added.

"My _body_?"

"Yeah, your _body_," Arnold filled in with a small amount of anger in his tone. "We found your skinned, broken, and lifeless body in a room that had at least ten dead monsters littered across the floor."

"How can you be sure it was my body?" Arnold growled and grabbed the vest he was wearing.

"Because I got _this_," Arnold stated, adding emphasis by acting as if he'd tug the vest he was wearing off his body, "off of your corpse!"

"Wasn't my body," AJ said as if it were obvious. Normally, he'd have been right, but there was the fact that the vest he wore was supposed to be one-of-a-kind.

"How did you escape then?" Lila asked. In truth, she'd been wondering that since the moment he'd reappeared. How did he escape from the swarm of monsters?

"Escape? Escape what?" AJ questioned. Lila was even more confused.

"The room with the rubble that the monsters started to come in," Lila replied. "You told me to go on while you fought them off." Lila was more than surprised to see AJ appear to be completely clueless.

"Lila, what the hell are you talking about?" Lila was worried at that question. How could he not remember? However, one look in his eyes confirmed a slight fear Lila possessed at the moment. He had _no idea_ what she was talking about.

"The room on the second floor when-"

"Lila, we were separated on the _first_ floor. Don't you remember?" Lila was beyond confused by this point. Everything he was saying was clearly contradictory to what she remembered. "You climbed up the pile of stacked furniture and it collapsed. I told you I'd find another way up and to find a place to hide. So, I went around, ended up breaking the axe, found this katana and saw you three being hauled off by the cult. Then I followed you."

"That's a load of crap!" Helga shouted. "When Arnold and I entered the hotel, that furniture was _still_ stacked up! We even used it to get to the second floor!" AJ leaned back and shut his eyes. He crossed his arms across his chest and took several breaths.

"What do you have to say about that?" Arnold questioned, feeling slightly smug. Oddly enough, Arnold had no idea _why_ he felt so smug. For a while, he trusted AJ to watch over Lila while the four were separated. Now, however, him suddenly _dying and resurrecting_ was making his appearance highly suspect. No one can just die and magically be alive again. That just _did not happen_! His mind traveled to one of the first things AJ said to them when they appeared in Silent Hill.

'You can't trust everyone you meet in Silent Hill,' AJ had said. In truth, that made Arnold all the more suspicious of their fourth member. And, in a way, he knew far too much. He knew about The Order, he knew at least one of the previous victims of Silent Hill and most damning of all, he seemed to be playing mind games with them!

'Is he a member of The Order?' Arnold thought. 'He seems to know a whole heck of a lot about them and the town, and it can't be just coincidence we made it out of their base without being stopped _or_ questioned about anything. The fact that we walked out seemingly without running into anyone is strange enough, but he walked through the base as if he'd done it at least a few times before. That Order member did know him, after all. They could've staged that whole incident to gain our trust.' Arnold's eyes narrowed as he looked at AJ's unchanging expression, filling him with anger and doubt.

"It seems the town is making its move," AJ finally said, breaking the momentary silence.

"The town is making its move?" Arnold repeated, his suspicion and disbelief clearly showing by his tone. AJ nodded and eyed the three seriously.

"Silent Hill has a habit of messing with its victims. The town itself seems to reach into a person's mind. It brings out their fears, their worries, their doubts, and whatever negative emotions that live within them and plays hopscotch with it. It feeds off of your inner darkness and brings it out, making you angrier than normal, maybe less sane or increasingly violent. It can even play tricks because of the hold it gains on your mind. That's what it did to Eddie Dombrowski, anyway."

"How do you know about him?" Arnold shouted, remembering that the only way _he_ knew of it was through the notes left for him.

"Did you forget about what the cultist said?" AJ questioned in aggravation. "Apparently I've been here for _years_. Eddie was one of the people I saw come into Silent Hill. He, a girl named Laura and James all came around the same time."

"Nineteen years," Helga stated lowly, not believing that the boy in front of them should now be in his late twenties. In truth, her suspicions arose the same time Arnold's did and for most of the same reasons. However, the one thing that confused her most of all was the change in the amount of time that both he and the cultist said AJ'd been there. AJ said he'd only been there for a week or two, while the cultist said that he'd been there for nineteen full years. No place could seriously be that messed up! If only she knew.

Lila was unsure what to think. On the one hand, AJ had never lied to her before. He was patient with her lack of knowledge on the town and had even offered to train her to fight. He was apparently even right about how messed up the flow of time was in this town. It was amazing that he could feel like he'd only been there for a couple weeks but in reality had been trapped for almost two decades.

"I'm going to tell you what I told Lila," AJ started. "Time does not flow right in this place. Though... the amount of dust I'd find after being gone for a day suddenly makes sense. Even I can't believe the flow of time is messed up that badly."

"So what, are you twenty-eight in reality?" Helga asked.

"No, I'm still just nine. It seems that once I got into this place, I became bound by the way time flows here. By all logic, I really have only been here for about two weeks... but in the outside world, I've been gone for nineteen years."

"You realize how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?" Arnold questioned, his eyes still showing the same disbelief but now also betrayed some anger and hostility.

"If I didn't, would I be sitting here trying to make sense of it all?" AJ responded with his own question. "Fat lot of good it'll do though. This place isn't supposed to make sense."

"This wall wasn't here before..." Lila stated almost in a zombie-like trance.

"Lila?" AJ asked, though the unasked question was clear.

"When Pyramid Head killed those cultists in the alley... The wall behind us had a message written on it in... blood. It said, 'This wall wasn't here before'. At first, I didn't understand what it meant, but maybe I'm not supposed to."

"You're not," AJ confirmed. Lila nodded in a relaxed manner, as if a weight had been taken off her mind. "Only Silent Hill can make sense while making no sense at all."

"A paradox," Arnold said.

"Exactly," AJ stated. "This place is an eternal paradox. In ways it makes perfect sense, but in others, it makes no sense at all at the exact same time. It exists for the sole reason of messing with the victim's mind."

'That could be what's happening,' Helga thought as her gaze shifted to Arnold. 'Arnold's being affected by Silent Hill. He's used to everything making sense, but all of this violence and evil is really messing with his head.'

"Which is why, in this place, the only way to stay alive is to kill whatever seeks to harm you," AJ concluded.

"I don't know how you're able to kill anything," Arnold solemnly stated.

"You should know, Arnold," AJ began. "After all, you already have blood on your hands as well."

"You're lying!" Arnold shouted as he stood, knocking the chair he was sitting in over and onto the floor. Despite Arnold's reaction, one that spooked Helga and Lila because of the outburst, AJ sat in his seat, unmoved and unfazed by Arnold's outburst.

"Am I?" AJ calmly asked. "Look at your bat." Arnold picked up his bat and examined it, once more coming to the red splotch on it. "That little red splotch isn't a ketchup stain." Arnold began to tremble.

"I- I didn't mean-" he started but was interrupted.

"Good job." The three students all stopped what they were doing and looked at their fourth member. "You rose to the challenge and made your first kill, so relax. You did what you had to."

"How do you expect me to relax?" Arnold cried. AJ looked him in the eyes.

"What do you think would've happened if you didn't?" Arnold paused, but only for a second.

"We would've run away."

"And what after the creature found you again, and again, and again?" AJ continued. "You would've had to either kill it or _be _killed _by_ it. You chose to kill it and live to see another day." Arnold went silent. "So, the question is, where do we head now?"

"Hold on a second," Helga said. "Who says we're bringing you along?"

"What?" Lila shouted. AJ narrowed his eyes.

"I'm with Helga. All of this isn't making any sense. You died, we get caught by the cult and now all of a sudden you're back? There's no way you're really AJ. So, to protect my friends, I'm going to take one of the first pieces of advice you gave us. We're going on without you."

Arnold was sure that all of this was impossible. He was sure AJ was really dead, or he was an agent sent by The Order to kill them when their guard was down. Of course, with the way AJ, either dead or a cultist, had been speaking about Silent Hill, he now could very well be created by the town itself to lead them down a road that would kill them all. There was just too much wrong with this picture.

"You can't trust everyone you meet in Silent Hill," AJ said, making the kids look at him incredulously. "Good call. But, there's one problem. What does the third member of your group have to say about your decision?" Their attention all suddenly turned to Lila, who found herself shrinking under their gaze.

What did Lila think about that? Her mind began to wander, specifically to what had been occurring lately. She had to admit that very little made sense, yet, to her, nothing really seemed off about their fourth companion. He was pretty much exactly as she remembered him.

"I think he should stay," Lila stated.

"Are you serious?" Both Arnold and Helga asked. Lila nodded.

"He's the strongest out of all of us, he knows the most about where we are, he hasn't lied to us yet, and he's saved us twice... and me a few more times. And he made a promise to me... I want to see if he keeps it."

Lila was slightly relieved to see AJ smile in return. Even stranger, though she did want to keep him in the group, there was something else telling her to keep him close. What was telling her and why, however, escaped the redhead, though the thought had a small dusting of pink reach Lila's cheeks. Arnold and Helga gazed at Lila in a small amount of shock and confusion. Shock in that she knew that much about him and confusion as to why she'd want to keep a dead boy in the group.

"Well, there you have it," AJ said.

"Nothing changes," Arnold argued. "Majority rules."

"You're not stopping me from coming with you."

"Really?" Helga asked as she stood next to Arnold.

"Yeah, really. Lila wants me to come along, so that's what I'm going to do."

"She may, but _we_ don't," Arnold stated, looking ready to fight.

"I don't remember caring about what _you_ want. Just what _she_ wanted," AJ retorted, standing his own ground and narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"And if we say no?" Helga questioned.

"As if you saying no is going to stop me. If she wants me around, that's what's going to happen. If we have to, we'll separate again and she'll come with me."

"Like Lila would go with you!" Arnold shouted.

"It's _her_ choice! Whatever she decides, I will go with!"

"What are you, some kinda lapdog?" Helga yelled.

"Unlike you, I'm not afraid to do what needs to be done to survive!" AJ shouted. Arnold and Helga went silent after that. As much as they hated to admit it, AJ was right. They were more inclined to run and keep running. Arnold wasn't even aware he'd killed something until AJ pointed it out. AJ was right... they were scared. They were scared of the idea that they had to kill. They were terrified of the notion that they may not escape. Most of all, they were frightened about what may happen to them should they fail.

"We're going to the school..." Arnold said, the previous fight he held in his voice now completely gone.

"Back there, huh?" Helga and Arnold nodded. AJ stood up and headed for the door. "The quickest way is across the lake, but we may have to take the road. The cultists may be waiting at the docks." The four stood up and walked out of the building, heading back into the fog and walked down the road.

"We're going to take the fastest route we can," Arnold stated. "That means we're going to take a boat from the docks. Even if there are cultists there, I'm sure _you_ could handle it, AJ." The anger in Arnold's voice was clearly heard.

"At least one of us here isn't afraid to," AJ retorted, tapping the hilt of his katana with his left hand.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Zero: Oh shit.**

**Me: Apparently you see it. I wonder if anyone else can.**

**AJ: You mean see the things that are going on?**

**Me: Mentally, not just physically.**

**Rendan: Well, that's understood.**

**Me: I'm just curious if any of the readers realize what's going on.**

**AJ: I'm just glad I got a katana. Those swords are freaking sweet! It can't get much better than that!**

**Me: Are you sure?**

**AJ: ... Let's see what you've got planned then.**

**Zero: What just happened?**

**Rendan: Some kind of understanding between creator and creation. Why don't we have that?**

**Me: Your minds are differently wired than his. Simple. Anyway, that'll do it for this week.**

**Everyone: Be good and be safe, everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here!**


	14. A Great Threat

**Me: Well, after that hellish... I think, wait is Chapter 14.**

**Rendan: No complaints here. My mind had to rest after all the insanity that's been going on here.**

**Zero: Yeah right. You were totally reading it over while he was busy.**

**Rendan: You were too!**

**Zero: Is it wrong to like something that twists my brain and makes it say "OW OW OW OW!"?**

**AJ: Not in the slightest. I find it kinda funny, actually.**

**Rendan: That we like to have our minds fucked twenty-some-odd ways to Sunday and denied the cigarette afterwards?**

**AJ: Well, that, and the fact that even you don't know what's being planned for this story.**

**Me: As much as I like hearing you guys argue, do you mind if we get this one started before you continue?**

**Rendan: Point. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective proporties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. The only things Azard owns are the OCs, the monsters he's created and the plot. Of course, like in multiple chapters, SPOILER WARNING in the chapter! Continue at your own discretion.**

**Me: Thanks, Rendan. Now, read and enjoy! *Rendan and Zero continue debating* Eh, what the hell? -joins debate-**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 14: A Great Threat<span>

Arnold scowled the entire way to the docks. He couldn't explain why, but a certain someone had _really _been grinding on his last nerves. In truth, he couldn't even answer if asked why he was even close to being on his last nerves. Normally, Arnold was one of the most patient people anyone could ever meet. Now, however, a majority of his patience seemed to have vanished into thin air. Then again, it didn't help that the certain person annoying him was challenging his authority.

Wait a second, when exactly did Arnold get that authority? It was supposed to be a democratic thing, right? Majority rules? Why did someone challenging his... and Helga's decision bother him so much? Ignoring that, he was also dealing with the fact that he had killed something, monster or not. Could killing that one monster turn him into some kind of bloodthirsty murderer? It couldn't... could it? It may... It happened to Eddie after all. Suffice to say, Arnold's mind was in a state of severe turmoil.

The rest of the group had their own problems to deal with. Helga was the second most concerned of the group and a majority of that concern was obviously directed at Arnold. She supported his decisions since she too admitted some of the recent events were far too sketchy to be considered real. Something had to have been planned. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Something was seriously wrong with the current state of things.

While her concerns were majorly for Arnold, Helga couldn't help but wonder about Lila's mental state. When Helga and Arnold had found Lila in the hotel, Helga honestly believed Lila may have resorted to killing herself over guilt. Now, suddenly the reason Lila felt guilty had vanished, thanks to the certain someone that was pissing Arnold off, and she wanted to keep him around. Why the hell would she want that? Couldn't she see that something was seriously wrong here? Could it be that she just didn't care? Helga shook her head and walked in tandem with Arnold.

Lila was clearly the most concerned of the group. Unlike Helga, however, she held massive concern for the entire group. It wouldn't be a lie to say that Lila was terrified of this town, having seen some of the monsters it housed and the cruel, evil nature of its people. One of her primary concerns was the chance that her friends and she would never find a way to escape. A fear that they would be forever trapped, doomed to death by a monster or worse, by the cult. While her previous feelings of guilt had been lifted, the reason for that now walking beside her, her mind was far from peaceful.

As for AJ, his mind was a goddamn enigma to the three. One minute he's supporting the notion that they should make their own decisions, the next he refuses to leave because Lila wanted him around. Actually, forget his mind being the enigma. _He _was the enigma. Everything about him was putting Arnold and Helga on edge. Ignoring the fact that he first showed up in the Otherworld, he showed considerable knowledge of the town they were in and was not afraid nor showed any hesitation when it came to taking a life.

Not to mention the alleged fact that he's been there somehow for nineteen years. There was no way that could be true... was there? Could it have been true? Was everything he told them true? Was it possible for time to be so utterly messed up here that he could be here for nineteen years but only feel and age as if he'd been there only two weeks? AJ was a constant enigma to both Arnold and Helga. Lila seemed to believe everything he said and clearly didn't doubt his words. While his mind remained unknown to her, she believed she had his behavior down pat.

The strangest thing about him, though, was that he always had an eerily calm air about him. Even if he were yelling, that odd sense of calm never left him, and the students could see it. In fact, they'd only seen him lose that air once and that was when the cultist dropped that alleged bombshell of information. One thing was certain, this enigma of a person would remain just that, an enigma.

Despite this, however, Arnold and Helga would tolerate his presence, for now. For Lila's sake. At least, that's what they told themselves. Keeping their eyes glued to the road as they searched for the docks and their ears listening to the dull roar of static, waiting for any spike in the amount, the group headed down toward Toluca Lake, and whatever would await them there. They got their response when a soft chirping reached their ears, though it was faint at first. The four stopped dead in their tracks and tried to place where the sound was coming from. A fair strategy, if only it didn't sound like it was coming from everywhere at once.

"We're close to the park," AJ said lowly. The three others fell into tandem behind him, Arnold gripping his bat tightly because of the chirping. "If there is a boat by the water, we can steal that to get to the docks. However, with that chirping, it's clear the Order is close."

"Wait," Arnold began, "I thought you said we needed to get to the docks to get across the lake."

"I forgot, sue me," AJ replied. "The docks are on the other side of the lake and we'll need to hope there is a boat by the water."

"If there isn't?"

"What kinda stupid question is that?" AJ asked incredulously. "If there's no boat we take the long way! DUH!" Arnold growled. "But, we'll have to deal with the cultists one way or another."

"I assume you have a plan besides walk up and kill everyone?" Arnold asked. AJ grinned.

"That kind of plan only works in bad action movies," AJ replied. "Some stealth will be needed."

"Yeah, well, we can't use stealth if this stupid radio keeps giving off static," Helga argued. "Even if it's just a small amount."

"Very true," AJ agreed. "No one objects to me heading out alone?" Arnold and Helga shook their heads almost instantly. Lila, on the other hand, hesitated a bit before she shook her head as well.

'He knows what he's doing,' Lila reasoned. 'He has to, otherwise we'd all be dead right now.' AJ nodded and walked off. Just as he vanished into the fog, the dull roar of static on the radio faded into nothingness.

"Strange," Arnold mused.

"What's strange?" Lila asked. Helga and Arnold looked to her as Helga held the radio up.

"That whenever he's around there's always some kind of static coming from the radio," Arnold continued.

"Didn't the cult already say why that happened?" Helga questioned.

"Just because the cult thinks a monster is following him doesn't mean it's true," Arnold argued. "Think about it, they've been wrong about everything else. Why would they be right this time?"

"Point," Helga admitted.

"Helga, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Arnold asked.

"One of us should tail him to see just what team he's playing for, ours or the Order's?"

"Exactly." Arnold and Helga shared a dark look before turning in the direction of the docks. "So who goes?" Helga held up the radio.

"Need to make sure Lila's safe. And at least I can attack from a distance." Arnold nodded.

"Point made. I'm going then. Wish me luck." Arnold turned and raced into the fog as quietly as he could muster, leaving Helga as the only line of defense should a monster appear. Arnold made his way to the park only to see several cultists moving about. At least three were standing in a small walkway in the park. Five others were walking about, moving around trees as if looking for something. A canary was placed on the ground as it tweeted softly. Arnold kept watching, trying desperately not to be seen by hiding behind anything he could.

"Over-!" One of the cultists shouted before being suddenly silenced. The others all turned in the direction of the sound as the four movers rushed there.

"Dammit!" One of them swore.

"Report!" A stander cried.

"He's dead! Looks to be a blade wound."

"Is it a Jilt type wound?"

"Negative! The canary would've been tweeting franticly if one of them was near!"

"Split up and look around!"

"Roger!" The movers all split up, running off in separate directions with their weapons drawn. Arnold shuddered and tried to hide himself further. The cultists were all carrying guns, pistols to be exact. After another few seconds a second cry was heard followed by a thud. One of the cultists rushed over to the thud.

"We've lost anot-" A sickening squelch and another thud was heard. Arnold watched in amazement as the cultists were getting picked off like this. He nearly vomited, however, when the head of the recently deceased cultist rolled into the open.

"It's over there!" One of the standers cried as he rushed to the spot the other two were killed in. He disappeared behind the trees and gunshots rang out seconds later, drawing the other cultists to the area. Another thud was heard just as they reached the spot.

"It got Andy too!" A female cultist cried. Arnold began to whip his head around wildly. Could it be possible that he was dealing with an intelligent monster? Who honestly could be picking off the cultists like this! Arnold shuddered, wondering if he would be next. He had to keep watching though. He wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled to watch the scene before him. Something in the back of his mind told him it was important to see. With that thought tugging his mind back to the gruesome scene, Arnold kept watching on. Of course, the gruesome scene was assumed since the trees were blocking most of the action. Then again, seeing a severed head roll into the open isn't exactly pleasant.

The cultists separated again, resulting in another squelch and thud as the cultists were now down to three members. The female member, the only mover left alive, moved cautiously to the scene.

"You will not win this day, Monster!" The presumed leader shouted. "God will defend us from you!" Arnold rolled his eyes. How delusional could these guys be? He shook his head as the answer to that question presented itself in a painfully obvious manner. The female cultist walked to the edge of the trees, thinking if she kept from the trees, she'd be safe. She jumped slightly and suddenly fell back. As she hit the floor, her head separated from her body.

"We're the only ones left," the second to last cultist said.

"How about instead of stating the obvious you go check it out?" The leader shouted.

"How about instead of suggesting the obvious you act like a real leader and help your subordinates!" The second shouted back.

"Heathen!" The leader raised his pistol and shot the other in the head, dropping him, dead, to the floor. "To question your superior is to question God." Arnold sat, wide-eyed at what just happened. When Helga had said these people were nuts, she _really_ wasn't kidding. The last cultist walked to the edge of the trees and opened his arms. "Come and get me, Monster! God will protect me from your malice!"

A bloodstained figure leapt out of the trees and stomped into the cultist's torso while simultaneously plunging his blade into the cultist's chest. The cultist hit the floor with a loud thud as the figure, now finally in view, tore up the man's chest to his throat before ripping the blade out, cutting up to the man's head. Arnold began to shiver as he finally recognized the figure. It was AJ. AJ stood on the cultist, breathing heavily as he gripped his katana tightly. He turned his head to look around for a bit before sighing heavily.

"How long do you plan on hiding there, Arnold?" He asked. Arnold stood up from his hiding spot and faced him. Arnold shuddered slightly at seeing the fourth member of the group in this kind of state. AJ had blood splattered on his torso, legs and even his face. His katana was covered and practically dripping with freshly spilled blood. Scarier yet, being covered in enemy blood didn't appear to bother the boy in the slightest!

"What the-?" Arnold couldn't even finish his sentence. In truth, he didn't know how to. He'd seen AJ kill before, but not like this! Then, it was defense. This time it was a slaughter!

"This is how you handle the Order," AJ said.

"H-How in the world could you do this?" Arnold asked angrily as he gripped his bat tightly.

"If I didn't, they would've done it to us." Arnold couldn't bring himself to argue that. After all, he'd almost been their victim himself... Helga and Lila as well. "Go get the others." AJ pointed to the trees. "Down that path is a waterfront. There's a boat there so we'll use that." Arnold nodded hesitantly. AJ moved to the chirping canary and opened its cage. The bird flew out and landed on his shoulder for a second, tilted its head, and eventually flew off, chirping softly the entire time. "Don't worry yourself. I'll be clean by the time you get here." With nothing else said, AJ left the area and walked to the waterfront.

Arnold trudged, slowly, back to the others. Parts of his mind were telling him to run away as fast as he could. To grab Lila and Helga and run. However, something else entered his mind. The notes he received. As Arnold walked, he thought about the first note he read from the Path of Victims.

'They've all had to accept the inner darkness that all of mankind possesses, while others denied and succumbed to it,' Arnold thought. 'Is there more to it than that? Is it really just a darkness in ourselves? Could the Order be mankind's darkness? But then, what does it mean to accept it? It can't mean to join them... Can it? Or... does it mean to do what AJ does? He acknowledges their existence, he knows they're there, but he fights against it. He's not denying it, he's embracing it. Maybe, just maybe, sometimes darkness must overcome darkness." Arnold shook his head. Was he seriously just thinking that? 'What in the world am I thinking! There's no way any of that's true!... Maybe... No! It's not true! It's _not_ possible!'

There was very little about this whole situation that was making sense. Arnold knew that much. The only thing is, he had no idea why! _He_ said that this place was an eternal paradox, able to make sense while making no sense at all. That alone defied all logic! In his thought process, Arnold failed to notice something. That something making itself clearly evident when he fell to the floor, landing on top of an increasingly confused Helga.

"Hey! Football Head! What the hell are you doing!" Helga shouted. Arnold finally snapped back into his senses and jumped off and away from Helga as if she were an active grenade.

"Sorry, Helga!" Arnold quickly apologized. "I guess I spaced out."

"No duh, Football Head!" Helga yelled. However, it became increasingly apparent what had just happened to Arnold... Helga _cursed_.

"You... cursed," Arnold said almost robotically.

"What the hell are you talking about, Football Head?"

"You just did it again!" Helga shot Arnold a questioning glance.

"Whatever, Football Head. So, whose team is our fourth member playing for?"

"He's playing for ours!" Lila stated in a raised voice.

"You seem to think so, but we don't."

"I don't know what to think," Arnold admitted. "All of this is too confusing. The way I figure it is, we continue as we are and we kill him if we need to."

"That's rather dark for you, Football Head," Helga said.

"It would be our only option. He's not afraid to kill." Helga nodded. "He said there's a boat in the park. There most likely is and we shouldn't keep him waiting."

"If we value our lives we shouldn't."

"AJ wouldn't do that!" Lila shouted.

"So you think. Football Head, why don't we just run?"

"Because he knows how to hunt... he'll find us regardless of what we do."

"Good answer. Don't wanna make the guy that can kill us all angry." The three headed off to the park, the dull roar of static returning as they got closer to their fourth member. Lila, however, was scowling the whole way.

'How dare they?' Lila thought. 'AJ's been ever so helpful since we met and he's done nothing but keep us safe!' She felt her hands clench into fists. The three eventually found their fourth member sitting in a row boat on the water, completely clean of the blood he was splattered with before.

"What took you so long?" AJ asked.

"I, uh... spaced out," Arnold responded.

"Figures," AJ commented. "Get in the boat so we can get to the docks. If we're lucky, there won't be any cultists there."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Helga shouted.

"What?"

"Why did you have to say that! Now because you said we'll be lucky if there are no cultists at the docks, they're guaranteed to be there!"

"Why?"

"Don't you read? Haven't you seen a movie? That's the way it always works! It's like saying at least things can't get any worse. Things _always_ get worse after that!" AJ just watched Helga rant.

"Well, too late now," he stated. "Get in the boat! Time's a-wasting!" Lila, of course, was the first to enter the rowboat. Arnold followed shortly after and Helga, begrudgingly, went last. As they took their seats, AJ picked up an oar and tossed it to Arnold. "You're on rowing duty with me." Arnold sat near the end and dipped his oar into the water as AJ did the same on the opposite side. "Do I need to tell you what to do?" Arnold scowled.

"I know how to row," Arnold said. AJ rolled his eyes.

"Then row." The two boys began to row, moving the boat slowly but silently across the water. The radio's dull roar of static, for a time, was the only noise being heard. Though Helga wouldn't admit it, she was thankful for it. The last thing she needed was for a static spike to come out of nowhere and scare her out of her skin.

'At least it's mostly quiet,' Helga thought. The static on the radio suddenly spiked as a massive shadow moved underneath them. "Criminy! I didn't even say anything!" She suddenly shouted, making the others in the boat look to her before looking around. It wasn't long before a wave suddenly hit the small rowboat, rocking it violently. Unfortunately, the rocking knocked Lila clean out of the boat and into the lake. She began to thrash violently, trying desperately to stay afloat.

"H-Help!" She screamed whenever her thrashing allowed her head to stay afloat. Arnold was about to jump into the water, much like he'd done once before, but someone beat him to it. Lila was suddenly lifted up slightly, keeping her head afloat as her thrashing calmed. She looked behind her to see AJ holding her up enough to say afloat.

"Relax, I got ya," he said. AJ turned himself around and made Lila wrap her arms around his neck. With the radio's static still in a loud roar, he swam to the boat, watching for any shadows in the water. He saw one pass underneath him that was at least five times the size of the rowboat. He reached the boat and grabbed onto the side. "Get her into the damn boat!"

Arnold and Helga quickly pulled Lila out of the water and moved to the other side, allowing AJ to hop into the boat without capsizing the thing. A large tail-fin shot out of the water behind the boat and slammed into the water, sending the small boat speeding forward. The kids grabbed onto the boat, trying desperately to not be thrown from the boat. In Lila's case, she held on for dear life.

As the boat slowed a massive creature rose up from the water. It looked like a large, gut-colored fish with spikes running along it's back. It opened it's maw to reveal large sharp teeth at least as big as the kids. Its eyes blazed red like the fires of hell as it closed in on the boat.

"Big Caesar?" Arnold questioned.

"Big is a damn understatement here!" AJ shouted. The monstrous fish soared out of the water, crashing back into it mere inches from hitting the boat. The force of the splash sent the small boat rocketing off again, this time to the docks where the radio's static returned to a dull roar.

"What the hell was that?" Helga asked.

"It looked like Big Caesar," Arnold said.

"This is no time for your stupid fairy tales, Football Head!"

"It's real all right," AJ droned as he seemed to space out. "If that monster manifested itself here, Big Caesar is indeed real."

"How do you figure?"

"Monsters here are born from the minds of its victims. Events, circumstances, and experiences they've faced all play a part. Even if Arnold imagined Big Caesar, it wouldn't be that ferocious or that big."

"But Big Caesar wasn't as big as that monstrosity!" Arnold argued.

"In Silent Hill, everything has a purpose. Everything is represented. Apparently, it's a trial you have to overcome, Arnold."

"Big Caesar is nothing but an Urban Legend!" Helga shouted.

"Was it your favorite legend, Arnold?" AJ asked. Arnold shook his head.

"No... if I had to play favorites, my favorite would have to be 'The Headless Cabbie' or 'The Ghost Bride'."

"Then that settles it. Big Caesar is real."

"Care to explain?"

"Because the only time a story-book monster manifested itself here was when it happened to be the favorite story of Alessa Gillespie."

"Was she a victim?" Lila asked.

"You have no idea."

"How bad could it be?" Arnold asked.

"Lila, please cover your ears," AJ requested. Lila did just that. "Can you hear?" Lila tilted her head in confusion. He gave her a thumbs up, which made Lila smile. "Alessa's own mother burned her alive in a ritual to impregnate her with the Order's God." At the blank, yet horrified, looks he received, he continued. "You have no idea what I said after I said burned alive, do you?" Arnold and Helga shook their heads. AJ sighed. "She burned her daughter alive so Alessa would bring the Order's God into the world."

"How would that work?"

"She'd give birth to it, of course," AJ stated. Now Helga and Arnold were absolutely mortified.

"What kind of-" Arnold began.

"An insane one," AJ interrupted. "Alessa's mother was the leader of the Holy Woman sect of the Order." Arnold's eyes narrowed. AJ tapped Lila twice and signaled her to uncover her ears. Lila did just that and looked at her classmates' expressions, confusion prominent in her mind.

"And you know that she was a leader of the Order's Holy Woman sect because?"

"Because you're not the only ones that find notes around here! That and..." he trailed off.

"And?" Arnold and Helga asked. Lila, thankfully, remained mostly unaware of what was going on.

"And nothing. My life isn't some open book that you have access to." AJ looked off into the distance. "If we're going to be getting to the school, we should get moving now. That way we don't waste too much time."

'Don't tell me Arnold and Helga already forgot he was kidnapped by the Order,' Lila thought. The kids all left the boat, stepping up onto the docks. The docks were clear, no monsters or cultists in sight. AJ grinned at Helga.

"Don't start," Helga growled out. AJ laughed. Lila had to suppress the urge to giggle.

"We'll follow the road. It'll be easier that way," AJ said. With a reluctant nod from Arnold and Helga, the four headed on down the road. As they walked, Arnold now taking the lead with Helga following behind him, Lila tapped AJ on the shoulder.

"Thank you," she softly said, "for saving me." AJ smirked.

"It's not a big deal. Just doing what I'm supposed to."

"How did you know I couldn't swim?" Lila asked.

"Eh?"

"When I fell in, you jumped into the water before anyone else realized what happened. I didn't realize it at the time, myself, but you were swimming toward me the second I fell into the water."

"I didn't know you couldn't swim. When you fell in, I intended to guard you as you swam back to the boat. When you called for help, I realized I had to get you back myself." Lila smiled. She couldn't figure out why, but she knew he wasn't being entirely truthful.

"Liar," she playfully teased. "But, I suppose I can let it go." AJ gave her a confused glance. "My hero is entitled to a secret or two."

"Your hero?" Lila nodded.

"Yes, my hero. It isn't the first time you've saved me after all." Lila looked away, a small tint of pink gracing her cheeks. AJ mimicked her actions, though his expression was different. His expression, for a brief second, betrayed only sorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's why things are going like that... Oh! And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: Azard, I think my brain just exploded.**

**Me: Nah, you're fine. Well, this marks the appearance of Arnold's first boss.**

**Zero: Arnold's first boss?**

**Me: Great Caesar. The giant fish.**

**Zero: How is Arnold supposed to kill that thing?**

**Me: Like I'll tell you. After that fight, however, I'll explain the symbolism behind it, as well as do the monster dictionary for him.**

**AJ: Lotta shit going on though...**

**Me: And all of it 100% supposed to happen. As I always say, I always have a reason for writing things the way I do. But I also say to watch for little details as well, quirks or the like that aren't normal.**

**AJ: It's Silent Hill. Almost nothing is normal here.**

**Me: True, but I'm talking more character specific things.**

**Rendan: I assume you don't want us discussing that while the readers are still here?**

**Me: Correct. But, I suppose that'll do it for this time.**

**Rendan: Be good-**

**Zero: And be safe, everyone!**

**Me: I'm outta here! -everyone leaves discussing things again-**


	15. An Omnipotent Enemy?

**Me: After another annoying wait, Chapter 15!**

**AJ: Meh, better late than never.**

**Zero: Agreed.**

**Rendan: Yep.**

**Me: ... What the hell is wrong with you three? -pause- Well, AJ I understand but not you two!**

**Rendan: Well, we signed a peace treaty.**

**Zero: We will no longer fight for your amusement.**

**Me: -tears up peace treaty-**

**Rendan: That wasn't the peace treaty, that was a copy of the peace treaty. (Zero: That joke is property of Spongebob Squarepants.)**

**Me: Well, I guess I'll just have to tell Zero what happens in the future. -whispers something into Zero's ear-**

**Zero: NO WAY! REALLY!**

**Rendan: What'd he tell you?**

**Zero: Screw you! I ain't telling!**

**Rendan: You bastard! -tears up peace treaty (the REAL one)- TELL ME! -attacks Zero as both are trapped in a dust cloud-**

**Me: And thus another piece treaty fails.**

**AJ: You're an evil bastard.**

**Me: And I love every second of being one. Anyway, I don't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. Now, as my thanks for being patient, read and enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 15: An Omnipotent Enemy?<span>

School, a six letter word that meant a building made to teach the youth of the world all of the knowledge they would need to succeed in life. Of course, different people have different definitions for the six letter word, ranging from a solitude from the world to Hell. Sadly, for Arnold, Helga and Lila, school now took on a new meaning from the one they previously had. School had now become a place of untold horrors, a place of evil and a place where their worst nightmares had first been revealed to them.

The four kids stood in front of the school for the second time, now taking a moment to look at the decrepit building. They looked around a moment, getting a baring on their surroundings and listening for any slight increase in the radio's static level. The radio maintained its ever constant amount of static. The group waited for a moment to mentally prepare themselves for whatever they could face.

Arnold tugged on the door, opening it with the slightest tug, a slightly unnerving thing considering the town. While AJ walked into the building without a second thought, the other three paused again to take in what just occurred.

"H-Hey, Football Head," Helga whispered to Arnold, "didn't you have some kind of trouble opening that thing before?" Arnold nodded his head silently.

'I-Is it opening so easily because it's welcoming us somehow? Is it welcoming us to our deaths?' Arnold thought.

"Stop over-thinking it, you idiot!" AJ's voice shouted from inside the school. "It opened easier because you've gotten stronger, nothing more! Keep thinking that other way and the town'll kill you!" Arnold scowled, then paused.

'W-Wait a minute, how did he-?' The question stuck in Arnold's mind. How _had _he known what Arnold was thinking? He couldn't have heard what Helga whispered to him! He... What is he? After a moment of thought, none of it reassuring, the three students followed suit and entered the school, the door shutting behind them with a resounding slam.

The hallways were dark, like they remembered. Helga moved, the small light of the flashlight illuminating small portions of the hall, revealing a few bulletin boards and the secretary's desk. Lila, remembering that she still had the flashlight AJ gave her... or didn't give her... took it and turned it on, allowing the students to see a little more of the hallway. After a moment, however, Lila handed the flashlight back to AJ, who slipped it into the pocket of his vest.

The dull roar of static continued its constant stream of static, unnerving the students. They knew for a fact the static could spike at any time, but even with the slight noise, their anxiety certainly didn't decrease in the slightest. In the end, they were the same as they were when the first monster found them, terrified and confused.

"What's the plan?" AJ asked, not turning to look at them. His eyes seemed to be focused on a certain direction. Arnold looked to him, the scowl still on his face when he saw something he never thought he would. AJ's hand remained clenched in a fist at his side, but it was shaking slightly. Was- was he _trembling_? A sign of fear. AJ _was_, in fact, trembling, but Arnold couldn't fathom why.

"We need to find the form for the Path of Victims," Arnold said. 'Wait, this can be my chance.' Arnold grinned. "So, I propose we split up. Helga, Lila and I will go down this way," he paused to point in the direction AJ was staring down, "while you go the other way." Arnold smirked. 'I will show him I'm no coward.' Granted AJ had never called him that, but he certainly implied as much.

"I'm not going with you two," came a timid voice. Arnold turned to Lila, disbelief in his expression. Lila walked over to AJ and stood at his side. "Unlike you, I trust him. I won't let him travel alone so you can stroke your ego!"

'Does she think she can protect him or something?' Helga thought. In truth, that was only one thought going through her mind. 'Does she think she's making up for running away before?' Yet another question. Helga swore under her breath, mainly for not being able to read minds.

AJ, throughout all of this, remained impassive. His eyes moved to Arnold as he spoke then to Lila when she interjected. The passive expression on his face didn't change.

"If that's what you want to do," Arnold sighed. "Fine." He looked into AJ's eyes with all the malice he could muster. "If anything happens to her, the Nurse's blood won't be the only blood on my bat." He turned and walked away, a concerned Helga following suit. Lila stared at Arnold in clear disbelief. Had he really just said that? He had. AJ, however, finally shifted his expression. In all the angst and drama he watched Arnold leave, no longer trembling and a grim smile forming on his face. He quickly schooled his expression and looked to Lila.

"We won't get anywhere by standing around," he offhandedly mentioned. Lila nodded and, tugging on his arm, led him in the opposite direction.

Arnold stormed in the other direction, his arm limply dragging along the bat as if it were some sort of intimidation method. They traveled the halls, not bothering to look in any of the rooms. With the sound of the bat dragging along the floor, neither noticed the radio's static level vanish entirely. After chasing him through several halls, Helga caught up to Arnold and grabbed his arm.

"Football Head, what the hell was that about?" Helga shouted. "What the hell's gotten into you?" Ignoring Helga's cursing Arnold shook his head.

'I'm not a coward, I'm not afraid, I'm not scared, I'm not a coward,' he repeated in his head. His expression was extremely focused, a hard stare in his eyes. Helga quickly remedied this the only way she knew how, multiple slaps to the face. She grabbed him by his collar and slapped him.

"Snap! Out! Of! It! Football! Head!" Helga shouted between slaps. Arnold finally seemed to snap out of it as he looked at Helga, disbelief and confusion adorning his features.

"What? What do you want?" He questioned almost coldly.

"You threatened him... In front of Lila! What the hell's wrong with you?" Arnold shook his head.

"I don't trust him and I know you don't either!" Arnold yelled.

"I may not but Lila does!" Helga took a deep breath. "For now, we have to keep him around, for Lila's sake." Arnold blinked. Since when did Helga care about Lila?

"Since when do you care about Lila?" Arnold asked, feeling the need to voice his thoughts.

"We're all in this together, Arnold," Helga said. For a moment, that's the way things stood. Helga held Arnold by his collar as the two looked into the other's eyes. No noise, no anything, just unadulterated eye contact. It was then the two noticed the radio was absolutely silent.

"The radio," Arnold stated.

"What about it?" Helga asked, internally cursing that he ruined the moment.

"It's silent," Arnold elaborated. Helga blinked.

"What difference does it make?" An unknown voice asked. Arnold and Helga quickly jumped apart and looked for the source. Looking around, they noticed one of the doors was open. They approached, moving slowly to the door. The static on the radio returned to a dull roar, something that made Helga panic and shut it off, if only for the moment. No reason to get found out. The two looked into the room, which turned out to be the library, to see two silhouettes, one standing and the other sitting, by a table. On the table appeared to be a chessboard with the pieces resting on either side of the board. Were the two getting ready to play a game of chess? In a place like this?

"The difference is," the seated silhouette began, "they stand a bigger chance of failing should that happen." Arnold and Helga stared at the two figures, both of them cloaked by the darkness. By the looks of their silhouettes and the sounds of their voices, the two were only children. The seated child appeared thin while the standing child appeared to be more husky, though not to the extent their classmate Harold was. Could they be Order children? The standing child sighed.

"So what's the plan?" The stander asked.

"The plan is to let things progress as they have," the seated child answered. "Why change a winning formula?"

"What makes you think they won't stray from the course?"

"I've planned for every eventuality. They've moved exactly as I've planned they would, even if they don't realize they're doing it." The two chuckled. "But, there's a problem." The standing child turned to the sitting child.

"What problem?"

"The two pawns here," the child picked up two pawns of the same color from the sides and placed them on the chessboard, "are mistrustful."

"Can't you do anything about that? You are the Guardian, after all." Arnold and Helga paled. That sitting child was the Guardian! That couldn't be right! Could it?

"I'm not so powerful that I can control other people. I can only influence them, slightly."

"Like those notes? That Path of Victims thing?"

"Precisely." Arnold paled further. Did the Guardian himself write those? "However, I find this somewhat... entertaining."

"Eh?"

"The three pawns," the Guardian picked up a third pawn and placed it next to the other two, "come into Silent Hill. They are lost, confused, and innocent. They encounter their first enemy," he picked up a pawn of the opposite color and placed it on the board, "and that enemy corners them, in a sense. However," He paused to grab a knight the same color of the three pawns and violently knocked away the opposite pawn, "a fourth party, the knight, saves them. Now, they travel together, but two of the pawns are plotting against the knight."

"I didn't think you could take your own pieces," the stander mused.

"In chess, you can't," the Guardian said. "But in life, such things do happen. They fear he is a turncoat of some kind. A traitor in their midst."

"But he's the one keeping them alive."

"Right, but they don't see that. They also don't see that with his guidance, they could become greater than they dreamed possible. However, that won't be possible if they kill him."

"How great could they possibly be?"

"In terms of chess," the Guardian paused to pick up a pawn, "the male..." he paused to put the pawn on the side and picked up the second knight, "would be a knight." He placed it next to the first knight. "Together, he and the other knight would form an unstoppable duo, cutting down monster and cultist alike."

"Heh," the stander chuckled.

"The blonde female," the Guardian picked up the second pawn and placed it to the side, picking up another piece of the same color, "possibly a bishop. Wise to the world but powerful in her own respect. She could defeat any monster, and her distance is truly deadly." He placed the bishop next to the knights.

"But what about the last pawn?"

"The red head?"

"Yeah. What about her?" The guardian laughed and picked up the final pawn.

"Oh, her. She's the most interesting. A girl with an inner darkness greater than both the male and other female combined. She has the potential to become the most powerful of the four." He placed the pawn on the side and picked up the queen. "She'll be the queen, by far the most powerful of the pieces. With her guidance and power, no enemy can stand before her or her allies."

"Just how deep does her darkness go?"

"You'll see. They all will, sooner or later." The stander looked at the board curiously. "Something still troubles you?"

"Yes. After this transformation, what happens to the first knight?"

"The boy that's been here as long as I have? I don't quite know. I suppose once he's served his purpose," the Guardian slapped the first knight clean off the board and into the wall.

"You'll destroy him?"

"Not quite. His allies may very well do that themselves if they don't smarten up. If they do kill him, they'll only be dooming themselves at this point. After the first knight has served his purpose I'll just do the same as I've always done; sit back and watch."

"And if he dies?"

"It's no longer my problem."

"Then why have you kept him alive this long?"

"I suppose you could say he saved me from becoming a mindless servant to the Order. I've more than satisfied my debt."

'The Order wasn't lying?' Arnold and Helga questioned in amazement.

"There is another problem though," the stander said.

"Oh?" The Guardian asked. "Do explain."

"It seems the piece destined to be the queen has caught the attention of the king." The Guardian laughed.

"Quite true. Her inner darkness has caught the attention of the unstoppable monster of Silent Hill."

"Pyramid Head... But why her?"

"Do you remember why you're here?" The Guardian asked. The stander hung his head. "It's not quite similar, but there is a reason. Guilt, a feeling of someone deserving punishment."

"Well, at least he'll be leaving me alone for a while... Hopefully."

"I'm sure he'll manage. For now, though, we have to be sure our pawns keep moving."

"Where do they have to go, though?"

"It's no fun if I tell you everything, is it?"

"Point. Still, I'm hoping they last, especially considering who's waiting on the red head."

"Oh, they'll wait. They'll have to. Until then though, the pawns will move to where they need to go." The stander looked as if he was about to say something but was abruptly cut off by a loud scraping noise. The noise increased in volume, sending shivers down Arnold and Helga's spines. "Seems as if the king is early. Better run."

"Yep," the stander agreed. "Time to get my daily exercise!" With nothing more said, the figure bolted through a nearby door, vanishing entirely as the door closed with a resounding click. Seconds later, a large blade slammed through the table the silhouette of the Guardian was sitting at. Helga and Arnold noted that not once did the figure flinch or move.

"You're late," the Guardian said, his voice seemingly devoid of all emotion. He pointed to the door the figure from before left through. "He went that way." Arnold and Helga were treated to the sight of a seven foot tall figure slowly trudge in that direction. It had a large pyramid like object on its head and dragged the large blade along.

'W-was that Pyramid Head?' Helga thought.

'Cold, calculating, heartless,' Arnold mentally added. 'If he's not the Guardian he's doing a damn good job of pretending he is.' Ignoring the fact that his points came from his own mental interpretation of what the Guardian would be like, he and Helga continued to watch the Guardian until he made some kind of move. Helga, on the other hand, reached into her dress and procured the vial of Aglaophotis. She was about to use it when the Guardian suddenly stood, turned and vanished into the darkened room. The two stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend what they had just seen.

On the opposite end of the school, AJ and Lila continued to search throughout the school, attempting to find anything that could help them. The small amount of static coming from Lila's walkie-talkie was the only noise they were listening to. Based on what Arnold and Helga told her or, rather, she had inadvertently heard from them, she kept her chin up, thankful for the presence of her own c- err, guardian. Unfortunately, they weren't having much luck. As they walked they were suddenly treated to a massive increase in static.

Lila quickly tensed and begin to look around. AJ stood his ground and pulled his katana from the sheath and stood ready to fight. At least, that's how it was before they heard the scraping. The loud, familiar scraping they'd heard twice before was getting closer, only this time, there seemed to be no place to hide, as every room appeared to be a dead end. Suddenly, a boy rushed through the darkness and bolted into one of the classrooms in front of them, undoubtably running from the monster that was coming from the same direction. He had moved too quickly to be fully seen and the two suddenly felt like they should follow him. Too late.

Seconds later, the monstrous form that was Pyramid Head stepped from the darkness, still dragging his insanely large weapon behind him. He stopped upon coming across the two children, ceasing all movement and staring down at them, all of his emotion, assuming he had any, completely hidden behind his enormous helmet. Lila gulped and quickly stuck herself to the wall in fear. She watched on, terrified, as the immortal killer continued to stare. Lila quickly shifted her eyes to AJ who, as of yet, had not moved. Not one inch. Suddenly, he moved, and not in the way Lila believed he would.

"He went that way," AJ said, thumbing behind him. Pyramid Head looked in that direction and back to the boy, then back to the direction and finally back to AJ. Pyramid Head stared for a moment before moving on, scraping his sword on the ground as he walked past the two and continued on down the stretch of hallway. Lila could only watch in disbelief. That had happened, right?

"A-AJ?" Lila asked. AJ didn't move. She walked over to him and stared at him, only to notice the incredulous look on his face.

"D-Did he just-?" AJ began, finding it impossible to finish his question.

"I think... he did," Lila answered timidly. In truth, she couldn't believe it either. After a moment to recuperate, the two checked the room they had seen the other boy run into before only to find absolutely nothing. He, like most things that seemed to pass in Silent Hill, completely vanished. The two continued on, not seeing a reason to stick around, not to mention the added incentive since Pyramid Head was clearly stalking around somewhere. On their path, they soon met up with Arnold and Helga.

"Did you guys find anything?" Helga asked. AJ paled while Lila took it upon her self, though she did stutter, to answer.

"Pyramid Head," she answered. "And you?"

"Same thing, we think," replied Arnold. "And we found the Guardian." It was Lila's turn to pale.

"Y-You did?" Arnold nodded.

"We think we did. It was either him, or someone pretending to be him. But then again, you know all about that, don't you, AJ?" AJ's color quickly returned.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" AJ asked dangerously.

"You heard me. You'd know we met the Guardian, since you were there! Isn't that right, _Guardian_?" AJ laughed.

"I don't know where you got some White Claudia or why you're taking it but it must be some good stuff if you think that!"

"Don't give me that! The radio static is always in a dull roar when you're around. The same is true with the Guardian. The Guardian is cold and heartless, as are you."

"AJ is _not_ cold and heartless!" Lila shouted, now stepping up to Arnold's face. She felt a hand on her shoulder, obviously belonging to the person being accused. She watched as AJ stepped forward, standing directly in front of Arnold, staring down at Arnold with the coldest eyes she'd ever seen from him.

"If you're trying to make a point, Arnold, you're doing a shitty job of it." Lila gasped. He swore! "Save your bullshit, because now's not the time or the place. Let's get out of here first, then you can spout your lies."

"None of it is a lie!" Arnold shouted. His response was met by AJ picking him up by the vest and slamming him into the wall.

"You've got a lot of guts, Arnold, I'll give you that." Arnold blinked. That sounded familiar. "But you're making a serious accusation here. So, unless you have some _real proof_, shut your fucking mouth." AJ dropped Arnold, unceremoniously, to the floor.

"You see?" Helga loudly whispered to Lila. "He's crazy!" Lila turned and glared at Helga.

"Arnold's the one who started it," Lila defended. Helga's eyes widened exponentially.

'She's _still_ defending him?' Helga thought. Arnold slowly stood up, rubbing his sore head. "So," Helga began after snapping out of her stupor, "where to next?" AJ shook his head.

"We keep looking." Arnold and Helga looked to each other and nodded. At this point, they really didn't have a choice.

'We'll go along with it, for now,' they both thought. The four, now regrouped, moved along the hallway, coming to a staircase that led them to the basement. The basement, like the rest of the school, was dark and dusty. The area was dank, possibly due to leaky water pipes. As they continued on, they came upon a large hole in the floor that seemed endless.

"What now, oh knower of all things Silent Hill?" Arnold sarcastically asked.

"We go down the hole," AJ said as he hopped into the hole.

"AJ go down the hole," Helga humorously stated.

"This hole isn't very deep. It's barely a hop."

"We should leave him to his hole and leave," Arnold stated.

"We should follow him!" Lila shouted. Not giving the other two a chance to reply, Lila followed AJ's example and hopped into the hole, getting a resounding thud. Apparently, she hit something.

"Nice jump," AJ groaned. "You landed on me!"

"Sorry," Lila's voice almost giggled from out of the hole. Scarily enough, they heard AJ laugh in response.

"Hey! Are you two coming or not?" AJ yelled from the hole. Reluctantly, Helga and Arnold did follow, only to fall on AJ as well. "Dammit."

"Well, now what, genius?" Helga spitefully questioned as she and Arnold removed their bodies from atop their 'guide'. AJ stood up and walked into the darkness.

"This way!" He called. Lila, of course, was the first to follow with Arnold and Helga following shortly after. The area was pitch black. Not even the flashlights added any type of help in seeing where they were going. As far as Arnold and Helga were concerned, they were walking directly into the abyss and they were never getting out.

The situation was only made worse as a siren sounded off, the Otherworld bathing the darkness in a hellish red glow. The ground they walked on became grated, their footsteps clanking upon the now grated ground. AJ, still in the lead, reached the end of the hallway first and opened the door, leading the four into an area that was more akin to a prison cell. Dried blood and chains coated the walls. Objects of death and torture were in every corner. What they didn't notice about the room made itself present in one word.

"Lila?" Lila turned in the direction of the voice, her eyes widening in fright as she backed up. Her hands rose to her mouth as she looked at the figure in front of her. She wanted to speak, to ask the figure 'how', but no words would come out. Finally, after several moments, one word managed to escape Lila's lips.

"Daddy?"

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter as well as the first official appearance of the Guardian.<strong>

**-Zero and Rendan stop fighting-**

**Rendan: WOAH WOAH WOAH! What the hell!**

**Me: What?  
><strong>

**Zero: You sick, sadistic bastard!**

**AJ: As if he didn't already know and/or relish in it.**

**Zero: You're one to talk. What the fuck is wrong with you?**

**AJ: I don't follow.**

**Zero: What you did to Arnold!**

**Rendan: Dude, how would you feel being called the primary cause for hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths?**

**Zero: I... would hate it.**

**AJ: Case and point. Thanks, Rendan.**

**Rendan: No problem.**

**Me: Anyway, that'll do it for this week.**

**Rendan: Be good!  
><strong>

**Zero: And be safe, everyone!**

**AJ: He's outta here!**

**Me: What're you? The umpire? ...AND THAT'S MY LINE!**


	16. A Life At Risk

**Me: FINALLY! Chapter 16! *rockets go off, streamers fly from the ceiling (there's a ceiling?) and fireworks explode in the sky (now there's a sky?)***

**Rendan: You're not dead!**

**Zero: HE LIIIIIIIVES! Wait... where were you keeping those?**

**AJ: Who cares? Seriously, life must be a bitch.**

**Me: Oh, she is, but there are new developments as well.**

**Zero: Care to share?**

**Me: Oh hell no, I'm not telling you shit.**

**Zero: Dick.**

**Me: I am what I have.**

**Rendan: Can we please get this one started before the mob attacks?**

**Me: What mob? *looks out, a tumbleweed bounces along***

**Zero: Nice use of an overplayed joke.**

**Me: I thought so.**

**AJ: Meh. Anyway, Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are the proporties of Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. The only things he owns are the OCs, the monsters he's created and the mindfuck that is the plot.**

**Me: Thanks as always. Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 16: A Life At Risk<span>

Lila couldn't move, couldn't think, after what she saw. All of her fears about this place, all of her worries, were exacerbated one hundred fold as her eyes took in the sight before her. It couldn't be possible! How could her father be here? He wasn't on the trip with them! He wasn't anywhere near this place! He should've been at home, probably resting on the couch after a hard day of work. This shouldn't be happening!

Mr. Sawyer was a portly man. His head was covered with fiery red hair and a mustache of the same color. It seemed pretty clear where Lila took after, family wise anyway. He had on a green sweater with beige pants. His eyes were widened with fright. Apparently, his worst fears about this place were realized just by seeing his daughter here.

"Mr. Sawyer?" Helga questioned, not believing the sight before her either. Mr. Sawyer nodded gravely. He was bound by cuffs and what appeared to be barbed wire. A cuff rested around his wrists and ankles, pulling them apart and keeping him suspended in mid air above them. Another cuff seemed to be wrapped around his neck, the barbed wire reaching up into the ceiling. He hung there, his head down in sorrow. No parent would want their child to see them in such a state.

"Well, in light of this, there is some good news," AJ remarked. The three students looked at him, confusion, and in Arnold and Helga's cases, anger, plastered on their features. "Take a look at the cuffs. There are keyholes in the center. It's possible to free him." Lila's face lit up hearing that. There was a way to save her father!

Mr. Sawyer, on the other hand, was wondering just who the fourth kid in the group was. He'd heard Lila talk about Arnold on more than one occasion and could easily pick him out, and he'd met Helga before when she had come to give Lila her homework, but he had no idea who the fourth kid was. He seemed to be observant, to say the very least.

"Hello," Mr. Sawyer said, trying to remain upbeat despite the situation.

"Daddy, how'd you get here?" Lila questioned with worry.

"I don't know, honey," he replied. "The last thing I remember was lying on the couch to take a nap. When I woke up, I was hanging here." His gaze again shifted to the fourth child. "And I don't believe we've ever met. I'm Lila's father."

"Nice to meet you. Name's AJ." Well, he was certainly informal too.

"Are you one of Lila's friends?" AJ was about to shrug before Lila spoke up.

"Yes, he is, daddy! We met him here in Silent Hill and he's been keeping me safe."

"You have?" AJ nodded. "Listen, I have a favor to ask. Keep my baby girl safe. She's all I have left."

"Don't worry, Mr. Sawyer, she's in good hands," AJ answered, giving the man a thumbs up. Helga and Arnold looked to AJ skeptically. The man nodded appreciatively, a few tears dripping from his eyes, though from fear or sorrow, or both, the kids would never know.

"Hey," a dull voice droned. The four kids turned their heads to see another figure hanging right next to Lila's father in a similar situation. He had a football shaped head just like Arnold, though the figure's features were more bulbous. He also wore a small hat on his head with a little spinner on it. The hat lied slightly to the side on his head, parting his dull blond hair. The primary difference between this figure and Mr. Sawyer's predicament was that there were no cuffs on his wrists or ankles. The only thing holding him up was barbed wire wrapped tightly around his wrists.

"Arnie!" Arnold shouted.

"Hey," Arnie replied dully. Seriously, how _had_ they missed him before? Arnie was garbed in a plaid shirt with blue overalls. Simple, just like the boy himself. Lila turned from Arnie to Arnold, curious to see how the two would react, seeing as both were once objects of her affection. Arnie didn't seem too bothered, his dull expression never leaving his face. Lila was shocked to see another set of eyes watching Arnie as well, though his stare was more analytical if anything. AJ gave Arnie a hard stare before his expression shifted to pity, possibly.

"What're you doing here?" Arnold asked, hoping to get some kind of a response from his apparently dull-witted cousin.

"Hanging," Arnie simply responded.

"You don't say?" AJ added in his two cents.

"Yep," Arnie replied without necessity.

"And sharp too," AJ commented in a sarcastic tone. He turned his head to Arnold. "Who's he?"

"My cousin."

"I pity you, Arnold. I really do."

"You're not the only one in this case," Helga added.

"Thanks a lot," Arnold sarcastically said. "How did you get here, Arnie?" Arnold's question caused both Helga and AJ to roll their eyes.

"Dunno," Arnie responded. "I was reading the ingredients on a pack of plain flavored gum when I suddenly fell asleep. When I woke up, I was here."

"Does he have another tone besides dull?" Helga complained. Lila watched curiously as Arnie's gaze seemed drawn to not only hers but suddenly to the fourth member of the group until the two seemed to watch each other, neither saying a word. In a strange way, it seemed as though they were speaking to each other without a word needing to be said.

"He's doomed." That comment shocked every student out of their trance as they looked at their combat trained ally.

"What do you mean he's doomed?" Arnold shouted, barely restraining himself from strangling AJ. AJ merely raised his hand and pointed to the wires keeping Arnie suspended off the floor.

"What do you notice about his bindings that are different from Mr. Sawyer's?" Arnold blinked and took another look at the two, paying careful attention to the bindings. It was then he noticed, but he didn't know what it meant.

"Arnie's not being held by cuffs," Arnold said.

"Meaning," AJ continued, "there's no way to free him. He's here to serve a purpose, for sure, but what that is, I haven't the slightest-" he was interrupted by a massive spike in static. Unfortunately, the static was soon drowned out by a very familiar loud scraping sound that grew louder with each passing second. The sound seemed to be coming everywhere, causing the four armed kids to spin around rapidly, trying to find out where the monster they all feared was coming from. Suddenly, the noise stopped, but the walkie-talkie's static didn't.

The sound again changed, from a loud scraping to massive footfalls. Each step crashed down with a boom. The pace, like everything else, was terrifyingly slow. The only major difference was the direction the sound was coming from. It came from behind Arnie and Mr. Sawyer. They turned in the direction to see a massive figure stepping out of the shadows, his unwieldy large weapon held up in one of his powerful hands, the other resting against the side of the blade, keeping it steady as he walked. The four students began to walk backwards, trying to place some kind of distance between them and the immortal slowly closing in on them.

The figure finally stopped and thrusted his blade forward, piercing Arnie's chest and nearly tearing him in half. Arnold looked into Arnie's eyes, for once seeing something other than dullness in them. Fear. Pyramid Head lifted his blade, perfectly slicing the boy in twain, each side now lazily hanging by the wires coming from the ceiling.

"NO!" Arnold cried at the top of his lungs. He couldn't believe it. His cousin, his only cousin, was gone. Dead at the hands of a monster deemed immortal. Why? Why did it happen! In Arnold's shock, he hadn't noticed Pyramid Head's gaze shift to him. The monstrosity planted his blade into the ground and easily slid it down, lodging it into the floor as he began his slow walk toward the boy. Arnold looked up, now seeing Pyramid Head looming over him as his massive arm now reached down to grab him.

"Move, you idiot!" Arnold heard someone shout as he felt someone slam into him, knocking him away with what felt like a full body tackle. After hitting the floor, Arnold looked up onto to see that Pyramid Head had indeed caught someone, the someone that knocked him to safety. Pyramid Head lifted AJ up by his vest, holding him well above his head as he seemed to study the child in his grip. A low groan came from the monster as his arm moved before chucking the boy in his grip, full strength, to the opposite end of the room.

Lila watched in horror as AJ slammed into the wall, having ricocheted off the floor four times with each bounce landing on a different part of his body. The first bounce hit his right shoulder. The second scraped up his back even through the vest. The third struck his collarbone and the fourth hit both his neck and head. The slam itself seemed to break the very wall behind him from the sheer force of impact. His head fell limp as blood seeped from his mouth though, somehow, he was still alive. Though he kept coughing out blood, he was breathing, though he was also gasping in pain with every breath he took.

Lila rushed over to the injured boy, determined to stay by his side, even as the monstrosity approached them. Pyramid Head, still seemingly targeting the boy, began his ever slow stride toward the two. Lila watched as Arnold rushed over, placing himself between the unstoppable force and his friend.

'Arnold?' Lila thought with horror. 'Get away! He'll kill you!' Unfortunately, Lila found herself incapable of speaking. 'Arnold... why are you risking your own life? Have you... had a change of heart?'

'What the hell am I doing?' Arnold questioned himself. 'That monster just _threw_ someone across the room! I can't stop it! Why am I doing this?' He looked back for a second, seeing Lila trying to tend to AJ's wounds as she watched on in horror. 'That's why... I won't let my friends die!' Arnold stood his ground, watching as Pyramid Head reached down to, presumably, crush his head when the most unusual thing happened.

Nothing. Pyramid Head stopped in mid reach. Nothing was said, no movements were made, no one even breathed, as the unstoppable monster of Silent Hill retracted his hand and retrieved his blade before slowly trudging away. Arnold quickly rounded to look at the two behind him. Lila was looking at AJ's nigh destroyed body, trying to figure out just how much damage had been done. AJ continued coughing, his blood violently leaving his body with every cough. Very slowly, he beckoned Arnold over with his left hand, the only one that seemed willing to work.

As Arnold approached, slowly, he observed the condition the other boy was in. At a glance, he seemed incapable of lifting his head. A fair amount of blood was dripping down the wall his back impacted. His right arm seemed to sag, as if there was no bone there. Looking at his neck, there appeared to be several bumps protruding from his neck. Arnold dipped his head, curious what AJ had to say.

"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" AJ whispered, coughing afterward. Arnold blinked.

"Yeah. How bad is it, actually?" Arnold questioned. AJ coughed out more blood.

"For a guess? I'd think scraped back, shattered shoulder, broken neck, broken collarbone, fractured skull and maybe a fractured or shattered spine." Arnold gulped and moved back a few steps.

"HOW THE HELL ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?" Arnold shouted.

"Who knows?" AJ lowly replied. "I don't care how I'm still alive. I just care that I'm alive." Helga pulled Arnold back to her.

"Maybe the Order is right about this," Helga suggested. "Maybe the Guardian really is watching out for him. Either that or the Order's God seems to like him."

"That can't be it," Arnold reasoned. "Remember when we saw the Guardian before? He said that AJ's fate meant nothing to him."

"He said it wouldn't later, after he's apparently helped us with who knows what." Arnold turned back to Lila who was desperately searching for some way to help AJ.

'Could it be that I was wrong about him?' Arnold thought. 'The Guardian really didn't seem to care about anyone other than himself and... AJ saved my life. There's no way... no, there is a way. He could've done that to try and throw me off the trail. How else could he survive what just happened? Though... it's possible that Helga's right.' The duo walked over to the other two still at the wall.

"I guess your adventuring is over," Helga said. The next thing shocked them. AJ began laughing. A hallow, raspy laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

"Not even close," he rasped out. "Th- there is a first-aid kit over there, by Lila's dad." Every few words, the boy had to stop and cough again. "It's up to you. Use it on me, and I can keep helping you... Take it for yourselves, and you're on your own. I... won't survive much longer without help." Lila wasted no time and ran over to the kit, grabbing it and running back to where she previously was, attempting but failing to open the kit. Not giving up after the first few failed attempts, Lila persevered only to fail at each and every attempt.

'Why isn't it working?' Lila frantically thought as her fingers stumbled over the latch.

"It won't work for you, Lila," AJ lowly rasped out, chuckling again. His left hand, again, pointed to Arnold. "It's his decision." Arnold pointed to himself in disbelief.

"My decision?" Arnold barely uttered. In truth, he was shocked. It was a massive decision being placed on his shoulders. To save the life of someone who, quite frankly, put Arnold on edge every minute. He couldn't place why but something about the second male in the group didn't sit right with him. It bothered him to no end. There was something not right about him! 'He could be the Guardian... but he did save my life... but then again, he could just be trying to trick us so we'll let our guard down... But, if I let him die, what will that say about me? Would I be just like Eddie? Or James? Would I be worse than them?' Arnold shut his eyes tightly for a moment, thinking hard on the decision he should make.

Lila watched on in great anticipation. In truth, Arnold's behavior had worried her some, now more than ever. Was he seriously hesitating when it came to saving someone's life? He was, and that worried her. What could be wrong with Arnold, the one who selflessly helped others at any given opportunity, to make him seriously hesitate to help someone?

Helga wasn't much different, though she understood Arnold's trail of thought better than Lila did. She knew Arnold's concerns, his paranoia and anxiety in this place. Not to the extent Arnold did, of course, but enough that she understood far better than Lila could.

Arnold sighed and, with a quick snap, flipped open the first aid kit. "Use it." Lila smiled brightly as she reached into the kit to reveal... nothing. It was empty! Lila stepped back, terrified. Her friend was going to die and there was nothing they could do!

"It's empty!" Lila cried. Arnold and Helga stared back at Lila in a mixture of shock and concern, mainly for Lila. If she fell into a depression after AJ'd apparently died once...

"Congratulations, Arnold," AJ said, his voice lacking the raspy and quiet qualities. The three turned to him as his body suddenly started to change. His sagging right arm seemed to just move back into place. Several loud cracks were heard as the bumps sticking out of his retracted into his body. After a moment, he lifted his head, smiling broadly at the three. "You passed."

"You mean this was all some kind of test?" Arnold shouted.

"You were faking it?" Helga yelled angrily.

"You're alright?" Lila hopefully questioned. AJ sighed.

"Okay, in order: Yes this was a test, no I was not faking it, that kinda stuff is impossible to fake, and yes, Lila, I'm okay now. Opening a first aid kit here heals all wounds. The odd thing is, there isn't a single thing in it. It's like the health drink."

"How is it like the health drink?" Arnold skeptically questioned.

"Do you really want me to hit you so you can find out?" AJ replied with a question of his own. Slowly, taking care not to rise too quickly, he reached his feet and rotated his neck. "Trust me, you'll want to save those for later, but it'll shock you. I can guarantee that." He turned to Mr. Sawyer. "What's the poem that'll help us free you?" Mr. Sawyer stared at the boy in shock.

"How did you-?" He began.

"That's how things are in cases like this," He smoothly replied without missing a beat. Arnold shivered slightly. That uncomfortable feeling he had just shot through the roof, figuratively of course. "So what is it?" Mr. Sawyer sighed and recited the poem.

"_From the halls of education; To the massive walls of prison; We've planned your situation; For heathens will not listen; The hallowed halls of God save those from perturbation; Or travel toward truth and seek the truest wisdom._"

"Well, that helps," AJ mused.

"How does that help, Army Brat?" Helga queried.

"Each verse... they seem to point to a location," Lila wondered out loud. She lost her curious expression when she'd noticed everyone staring at her. She immediately seemed to shy away from them until AJ spoke again.

"She's right. Each verse points to a location. That's where we'll find the keys to free her father."

"How'd he know that poem?" Arnold wondered.

"When I woke up, I saw a black figure standing in front of me. He looked to be about your size and sounded like a kid. He told me the poem and told me to remember it, since it would be vital to my survival, so I did," Mr. Sawyer explained.

"Then we should get started," Helga stated. The group nodded and walked off. As AJ took the lead, the three noticed the back of his vest was now stained with blood.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Zero: I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until this ends, YOU ARE INSANE!**

**Me: And that's the magic word of the day!**

**Zero: Wha-? *gets catapulted out of the window (Seriously? Where the hell did THAT come from?)***

**Rendan: You think he'll ever learn to keep his mouth shut?**

**AJ: I hope not. He's the main source of our entertainment.**

**Rendan: I have to admit, most of the wacky antics that occur are thanks to him.**

**Me: And now you see the light!**

**Zero: *comes back in sopping wet (Now there's a lake or something? You know what? Screw this! Screw you guys! I'm going home!)***

**Rendan: ... How the hell did you get the voiceover to say that in Eric Cartman's voice?**

**Me: I am the god of this realm.**

**Zero: That's it, I'm done for the day. Be good and be safe everyone. *leaves***

**Rendan: He's done. Whatever. What he said, be good and be safe.**

**Me: We're outta here!**

**Unknown person: ME GUSTA!**

**AJ: Mushi, cut it out.**

**Mushi (Formerly Unknown person. Yeah, I said I was leaving, but he's got a contract.): No! NEVA! *is pulled away by AJ***


	17. The Guardian

**Me: And here's Chapter 17!**

**Rendan: What's with the title?**

**Me: What about it?**

**Zero: Is the Guardian...?**

**Me: What?**

**AJ: They're probably wondering what the hell he's going to do.**

**Me: Oh.**

**AJ: But, seeing as we should save some of our more wacky antics for when we really, REALLY need a break from Silent Hill's insanity, how about we get this one started?**

**Me: Good point. I'll handle the disclaimer then. I don't own Hey Arnold or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. The only things I own are the OCs, the plot, the monsters I've created and the puzzles I come up with.**

**Zero: Is it just me, or is that getting lengthier by the chapter?**

**Rendan: It'll have to, seeing as most of this stuff comes from his own head.**

**Me: All right, knock it off everyone. Thank you for your patience. Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 17: The Guardian<span>

The four moved briskly through the nearest narrow corridor. Only the eerie, hellish red glow gave them any light. Coupled with the shadows of large fans on the wall opposite of the light, the large blades slowly rotating with a large swoosh as the blades moved, they were getting sufficiently freaked out. Correction, the three P.S. 118 students were getting freaked out. As always, the one leading them hadn't so much as shuddered since they left Lila's father in the room as they searched for the keys that could free him.

"Is anyone else going to bring _that_ up, or do I have to do it?" Arnold questioned, though he never slowed the pace of his walking.

"Bring what up?" AJ questioned, still on point.

"You knew there was a poem that would give us clues on how to free Lila's father," Arnold continued.

"I've been here nineteen years, Arnold," AJ replied, though there was still clear disbelief in his tone at the mention of nineteen years. He still couldn't believe it himself. "I've come across a bunch of those things before."

"If you've done all of this stuff before, how come you're not _gone_?" Arnold asked. "I mean, if I were in your shoes, I'd want to get the heck out of here as quickly as I could. Do you _like _it here or something?"

"No, Arnold, I don't like it here," AJ answered, though the anger in his tone was rather poorly masked. "I haven't gotten out because I haven't yet fought my final boss."

"Your final what?" Helga sputtered out. "Great! He's on crazy pills! He thinks he's in a stinking video game!" Arnold, like Helga, was clearly disbelieving of his response.

"What do you mean?" Lila questioned.

"It's too hard to explain," AJ began. "I doubt I could explain it if I tried."

"Do you know someone who could?" Arnold skeptically questioned before beginning a mental countdown. 'Five, four, three, two, one...'

"The Guardian."

'Thought so,' Arnold thought in despair. "Then that's a lost cause."

"Why do you say that?" Arnold was about to reply before Helga beat him to the punch.

"Army Brat," Helga said, "the Guardian is crazy! He sold out someone next to him without a care in the world. Do you honestly think anyone could get close enough to him to even say one word before he sicks that pyramid monster thing on us?"

"Pyramid Head answers to no one, least of all the Guardian," AJ cryptically replied.

"How would you know that?" Arnold questioned.

"Pyramid Head was born while I was trapped here. He chased a man named James Sunderland."

'That's right,' Arnold thought, remembering the note regarding James Sunderland. "He was _born_ here?"

"It's the only way I can even remotely begin to explain it," AJ commented.

"By which you mean, you have no clue," Helga added.

"That's right." Arnold and Helga's jaws dropped. Finally, there was something he didn't know! Although, their minds began to wonder whether or not this particular bit of information was better off not being known.

"Still, though," Arnold continued, "I really don't think the Guardian would have a problem dealing with Pyramid Head." He shook his head slightly before mentally adding, 'After all, nothing truly is immortal...' Suddenly the footfalls of the boy leading them stopped. Without warning, he turned to them and, through the light illuminating from Helga's flashlight, they were able to see his horrified expression.

"Arnold," he began in aught but a whisper, "do you have _any_ idea who Pyramid Head is?" Arnold nodded. "I don't think you do. Pyramid Head is immortal, meaning he can't be killed, meaning that no one can stop him."

"Isn't the Guardian supposed to be the strongest monster in Silent Hill though?"

"Key words: supposed to be," AJ said. "Arnold, I'm going to be very, _very_ blunt with you. If the Guardian and Pyramid Head ever fought to the death, the Guardian would be _slaughtered_." Arnold and Helga both gaped. Lila, though shocked, remembered that AJ had told her Pyramid Head couldn't be killed... except maybe by his own hand. "The Guardian is very strong, no one can deny that, but if you put someone who _can_ die against someone who _can't_ the result is obvious. The one who _can_ die _will_ die, while the one who can't will walk away the victor.

"You seem sure of that," Helga commented.

"Can any of you tell me how to kill someone who can't die?" AJ questioned. At their silence, he continued. "That's what I thought." He turned and began to walk forward again with Lila following close behind. Arnold and Helga shook away their shock and continued forward as well, bringing up the rear. The hallway continued on for what seemed to be an eternity, their footfalls echoing in the eerie hell that was the Otherworld. Finally, they came to a stop in front of a large door with what appeared to be a wheel on the front of it. "Dammit all."

"What is it this time?" Helga asked. AJ grabbed one side of the wheel and began to try and turn it, but to no avail.

"Gimmie a hand here," AJ said. "These things are really hard to open." Arnold narrowed his eyes some but, reluctantly, went to the boy's aid. It still made no sense to him.

'How is it that he survives a throw by that pyramid monster... Pyramid Head, but he's unable to do this by himself?' Arnold thought. When he helped to try and turn the wheel, he could almost understand. That thing must have been _rusted_ or something to that effect because it would not give an inch. Helga joined in and began to pull as well, though the wheel simply refused to turn. Undaunted, the three continued to try as Lila watched on, not believing that the three of them together were unable to open the door.

"Wait! Wait!" AJ shouted, making the three of them stop as they stared at him in confusion. AJ turned his attention to the one who hadn't so much as budged since the beginning, Lila. "Lila, you try and open it."

"Are you crazy, Army Brat?" Helga questioned before adding, "Oh wait, you are."

"If the three of us together can't open it," Arnold began, "what makes you think Lila can do it _by herself_?"

"Do you doubt her, Arnold?" AJ asked.

"It's not that," Arnold quickly stated, "but the three of us together are definitely stronger than she is alone."

"Valid point," AJ agreed. "But I have a small theory, and I want to see if I'm right."

"And if Lila opens it by herself your theory is correct?" Arnold queried.

"Yep!" AJ answered with a two gigawatt grin. "Give it a shot, Lila. We have nothing to lose at this point." With a demure nod, Lila made her way to the wheel and placed her hands on it. With a small nod from Arnold, Helga and AJ, she tried to turn it. It turned without issue. The wheel spun easily for the girl and soon a click sounded, signifying that the door had be opened. It opened, moving away from the four and ushering in another area that appeared to belong to the school. AJ was grinning while Arnold and Helga had their mouths agape.

"H-HOW?!" Arnold and Helga questioned simultaneously. AJ smirked and offered Lila first entrance into the next room. She responded by walking around him and weakly pushing him into the room first. Arnold and Helga followed shortly after, mouths still open. Lila, just as confused by what happened as Arnold and Helga were, though arguably she did a better job concealing it, was about to question why, when the fourth member of the group spoke up.

"Okay, now that we're out of there, we have to find that key," AJ commented.

"Woah woah woah! Hold up!" Helga shouted as she finally came out of her stupor.

"Hm?" AJ asked in only a sound.

"How did you know only Lila could open that door?" Arnold questioned.

"I didn't," AJ answered. "Like I said, it was only a theory, a guess. She just proved me right."

"And what exactly did she prove right?" Arnold continued his questioning. AJ opened his mouth to answer, even taking in a small amount of oxygen before clamping his mouth shut. His expression betrayed confusion, his eyes darting from left to right as his right hand found its way to his chin. He was contemplating something, but what? Just as he was about to speak again, a loud creak followed by cracking assaulted their ears. The floor beneath Arnold gave way and he fell through the floor, into the inky black abyss. Helga was about to jump in after him but was restrained by Lila and AJ.

"Don't do it! There should be a way to find him. He's still most likely in the school, so let's just look for a way downstairs," AJ said. Helga growled lowly but nodded. The trio eyed the hole in the floor and made their way out, AJ once more taking point, as they tried to find a way downstairs.

Arnold woke up in a room vaguely similar to the one he just fell through. The walls were the color of dried blood and, compared to the other rooms, it was bare. Only two doors on opposite sides of the room were the only things in the room. Or so he thought.

"So, you're Arnold," a voice, familiar though strange, said. Arnold jerked his head around violently, finally settling on a darkened corner of the room. From the corner, a dark figure stepped from the shadows. The figure was completely black, as if it was completely covered in shadow. It only had the vague outline of a child around his age. The figure, however, was familiar.

"Who are you?" Arnold asked, gripping his bat in two hands and getting ready to strike. The figure simply waved a hand, raising barbed wire from the ground and wrapping them around Arnold's body before raising him into the air.

"You seriously don't know?" The figure asked. "Surprising, considering you throw my name around quite easily, even believing someone else to be me. You've even heard me before."

"G-Guardian?" Arnold asked, fear clearly in his tone. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a smile grace the near featureless figure.

"Correct." The Guardian watched him for a moment. "Do I have your word that you won't try anything stupid?" Arnold nodded mutely. "Good." The Guardian lowered his hand, palm facing the floor, as the wires released Arnold and set him down on the floor again. Arnold looked behind the Guardian, the once illuminated area now darkened by the shadows that seemed to emanate from the figure before him.

"W-What do you want?" Arnold questioned.

"To warn you, Arnold," the Guardian growled out. "You're stepping into turf you really don't want to be stepping into." Arnold glared at the figure. "Tell me something, Arnold. Where do you see the logic, or intelligence, in angering the only people in this place capable of killing you with no problem?"

"The Order are monsters!" Arnold shouted, justifying his actions.

"They're not who I was referring to," the Guardian stated. "I'm referring to, not only myself, but the fourth member of your little group."

"How am I angering you?" Arnold practically screamed.

"For one, you've actively sought a manner that would result in my demise." Arnold's eyes widened. "That's right, I know about the Aglaophotis. I know your friend Helga is carrying it." Arnold began to shudder. "I don't know about you, Arnold, but I rather enjoy living. As for two, you repeatedly call into question the loyalty of the one that joined you."

"There's something about him..." Arnold began, slightly hanging his head. "I can't describe it but there's something wrong about him."

"And you're right," the Guardian agreed, making Arnold gasp in shock. "There is something wrong with him. He's holding secrets that you can't comprehend. But, you should be able to work together because you both have a common goal."

"Which is?"

"To escape. He's been here for so long, yet the corruption of Silent Hill hasn't affected him as it could have. In fact, _you_ are more corrupted by Silent Hill than he is." Arnold gulped. "Now, where is that mind of yours? Are you going to argue and justify that you're not corrupt? How can you be sure I'm not lying to you to make you question your friends and yourself?"

"I don't need to," Arnold stated, glaring hatefully at the figure. "I _know_ you're lying." The figure seemed to smile again.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. I'm not here to truly aid you in your quest, just to fuck with your mind to the point you don't know if what you wear on your feet are shoes or tiny monsters that seek to devour you starting with your feet." Arnold gulped. "Tell you what, you can call on me at any time to answer a question, but one thing will remain certain. Chances are, you will _not_ like the answer to the question. I may not even answer straightforwardly either. I may just answer in a riddle, a rhyme, a poem or a limerick, just to confound you further. Of course, should you figure out the meaning behind them, the result should be the same. You may not like what you've just learned."

"Then what's the point?" Arnold asked, the fear in his tone fading slightly.

"The point is for you to watch yourself. Think about the questions you want to ask, and if the is answer really worth doubting and destroying your perception of the world and those in it."

"And this place isn't already doing that?" Arnold questioned.

"While that is true, I possess the ability to destroy, not only you, but your friends as well, using only my words." Arnold's eyes widened. "Well, regardless, I grow tired of this interaction. Do you have a question, or should I send you on your way?" Arnold pondered for a moment.

"M-My cousin..." Arnold stammered out, his eyes looking toward the ground.

"What about him?" The Guardian asked.

"D-Did he really die?" The Guardian hummed a moment.

"Yes," he began, causing Arnold to drop his head, "and no." Arnold looked at the Guardian, confused. "In the confines of Silent Hill, he is dead. But, outside of Silent Hill, Arnie is still very much alive. Since Silent Hill created a version of Arnie and didn't grab the real one, only the copy is dead."

"A copy?" Arnold shouted. He was about to ask how that was possible, but decided against it. 'I don't think I want to know right now.'

"Smart move, Arnold." Arnold raised an eyebrow at the Guardian, who seemed to be grinning darkly at him. "It's best to save questions like that for when you're more secure with your state in this place." Arnold blanched. "I know all about this place, Arnold. You can't hide anything from me."

"I'll keep that in mind," Arnold said. "I guess I'll be on my way." He turned and began to walk away, only to feel a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from continuing.

"One more thing, Arnold." Arnold looked over his shoulder, noticing that the Guardian had closed the distance between them in under a second. "If you ever, _ever_ threaten or try to attack me again, I'll use my barbed wire to rip your guts out."

"What?" Arnold questioned in fear.

"Through your mouth," the Guardian continued, his tone oddly happy and carefree. Arnold shuddered. "And your ass."

"Wh- Wha-?" The fear in Arnold's tone returned with a vengeance.

"_At the_ _same time_," the Guardian concluded, the carefree and happy tone still present.

"Why?" Arnold questioned in abject fear and disgust.

"Because I can. Do we have an understanding?" Arnold nodded, finding it impossible to speak. "Good boy. Now, go. Your friends are waiting for you." Arnold turned to face the door just as loud banging came from the other side.

"Football Head! Are you in there?" Helga's voice shouted.

"He should be in there," AJ's voice calmly stated.

"Arnold, if you can hear us, let us know you're okay!" Lila called. Arnold turned around to face the Guardian again, only now he'd vanished into thin air. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward, hoping that the Guardian wasn't planning to kill them all. With a quick motion, he turned the doorknob and opened the door inward, the sudden action causing both Helga and Lila to rush and trip over him, the three of them hitting the floor with a resounding thud.

"Told you he was in here," AJ commented as he helped Lila to her feet. Arnold and Helga, after a short awkward moment on the floor, rushed to their feet.

"Have you been with them the whole time?" Arnold asked, the question clearly directed at the second male of the group.

"No, Arnold, I decided to run around Silent Hill in a tutu while singing 'Danny Boy'," AJ sarcastically commented.

"He was with us the whole time, Arnold," Lila said with a darker edge to her voice. Arnold nodded his head.

"I believe you. We have to find that key, unless the boy wonder here managed to find it already."

"Not yet," AJ admitted. "The girls were adamant about finding you first." Arnold smiled slightly, giving off a small nod as the group moved on, the 'boy wonder' as Arnold put it leading the way once more. Sensing something amiss, he turned his head to look behind him to see the Guardian watching them leave, waving a hand in a strange farewell as they walked into the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Zero: So... Arnold met the Guardian.**

**AJ: Seems that way.**

**Rendan: What do you mean seems?**

**AJ: Well, it's Silent Hill. Who knows what this place is actually capable of?**

**Me: Good point. Regardless, there is something I have to do.**

**Zero: Which is?**

**Me: One of the exchanges used in this chapter, specifically the 'at the same time' exchange, is a modified version of a joke in Xanauzumaki's Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Abridged Series.**

**AJ: So, you're giving him some publicity?**

**Me: It only seems fair. I use a modified variation of one of his jokes, albeit played more for horror than comedy, I give him some publicity. Though, I must warn the readers, his style of comedy may not be considered funny by everyone. Seeing as how everyone has their own tastes, that's common sense. Personally, I think his work is funny as hell, but that's me.**

**Rendan: You know what they say, insane people love insane comedy.**

**Me: Something like that, I think. Anyway, that'll do it for this week.**

**Rendan and Zero: Be good and be safe everyone!**

**AJ and Me: We're outta here!**


	18. A Small Break

**Me: And here's Chapter 18!**

**Zero: Took you long enough.**

**Me: Writer's block, college kicking up again, do I REALLY need to go into the fucking details?**

**Rendan: I'd say not. I'm just happy you're still writing.**

**AJ: It's been a while though. I hope your muse has recovered.**

**Me: As do I, my friend. As do I.**

**Zero: Okay, so, how about we shut up and get this one started?**

**Rendan: Sounds good to me.**

**AJ: Disclaimer is mine this time. Azard does not own Hey Arnold or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami, respectively. He does, however, own the OCs, the monsters he's created, the plot, his made up puzzles, and of course that fucked up mind that brings this mindfuck to you!  
><strong>

**Caley: I thought it was Pyria's and my job to break the 4th wall.**

**AJ: I won't do it as often. On that note, there are SPOILERS in this chapter. Read at your own discretion! I think I've covered everything.**

**Me: You did. Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 18: A Small Break<span>

After a fairly long detour through the darkness, most of which was spent in complete silence, the four managed to make their way back to the first floor of the school. Arnold was surprised, seeing as he hadn't thought he fell very far, yet had to walk up what felt like fifty flights of stairs to get back up. At one point, he thought of questioning why, but a strange sensation in the back of his head told him it was probably better off left to rot. Upon reaching he first floor of the school again, Arnold, Helga, and Lila attempted to catch their breaths, having been sufficiently winded from the long hike up. Lila and Helga recovered quickly. Arnold, however, was having great difficulty catching his breath.

"Here's a question. When we went down we couldn't have gone down more than two flights of stairs," Helga began, "but when we came back up, we had to walk up about fifty. How is that possible!?"

"Silent Hill is the eternal paradox. It makes sense while making no sense at all. Sad to say I think you'll be used to it before too long," AJ said. "Depending on how long you're here, you might just find that easier to accept and understand before too long."

"We can't afford to be here for nineteen years," Arnold stated as he continued to struggle to catch his breath.

"You might not even be here that long. Time might actually move slower while you're here."

"Have you seen that happen before?" Lila asked. AJ shrugged.

"I wouldn't call it impossible, that's for sure." Arnold, surprising the other two, nodded his head in agreement. After suffering, if you would call it that, what felt like a three foot drop, but having fallen over fifty stories instead, he was certain that there was _nothing_ Silent Hill couldn't do. In fact, he'd begun to question if he really fell all that far. Did he really fall fifty stories? It certainly felt that way when climbing all those stairs.

"Where would the key be?" Arnold asked as he finally rose to his feet, though he continued to pant heavily for a moment or two.

"Remember the class with the giant hole in the chalkboard?" AJ questioned. The other three nodded. "That'd be our best bet. If there's a large, disturbing hole in the wall, chances are something in it will be of use... or it'll kill you."

"Do we want to know?" Helga queried.

"I've stuck my hand into enough holes to figure that out," AJ replied. There was a momentary pause before he added, "Okay, that came out wrong." The three students stared at him with no small amount of confusion.

"How did that come out wrong?" Lila asked.

"Yeah," Helga added. "It just sounded like you've had to reach into those weird places to find things you needed. How did that come out wrong?" AJ blinked and blushed.

"Uh... I blame the Order. When you're stuck around vulgar people, whether you want to be or not, you learn things..." AJ paused. "Please just leave it at that... I really, _really_ don't want to get into detail there. If you must know how, I overheard a lot of them making vulgar comments when they were nearby and I had to evade them. Again, please, _please_, leave it at that." Helga tilted her head slightly and shared a confused glance with Arnold, who returned the gaze with a minor blush on his face. Arnold clearly had some idea, but whether it was right or not, who knew?

Lila, on the other hand, kept her gaze on AJ, particularly the blush that was on his face. Her mind traveled to a time when she had mentioned something to Arnold about spending time with both her and his best friend's sister, Timberly. She mentioned the word threesome which made Arnold blush a healthy shade of red. Curious, she later asked her father about it and he spat out the beverage he was drinking before he explained it to her as gently as he could. Needless to say the concept in Lila's mind, one of her having two "Boyfriends" and doing "boyfriend-girlfriend stuff" with both at the exact same time, had her blushing so hard her face matched her hair. Noticing the blush on AJ's face, one that was scarily similar to Arnold's, her mind eventually figured out it was something pretty close to the line of conversation she and her father had and, thinking about what he could've meant, found herself blushing furiously even though she didn't fully understand. Whatever it was, it was enough to provoke a reaction.

"M-maybe we should just continue on?" Lila suggested, though she cursed herself for stammering. Again, she wasn't sure why she stammered, but chose to associate it with her embarrassed blush. AJ, finally managing to school himself, nodded his assent.

"She's right. We're never going to find those keys if we stand around here," AJ stated. Arnold shook his head in an attempt to remove the blush on his face. Fortunately for him, it worked.

"I want to lead this time," Arnold stated as he stepped forward. He stared at AJ, hoping to get some kind of reaction from him, but his face, as always, remained impassive. 'It's crazy not knowing what he's thinking.' Arnold continued to stare, attempting to give the second male the most confident look he could muster.

"What brought this on?" AJ asked. Arnold sighed.

"Chances are you won't be around all the time. I need to be able to take charge if we're ever separated and lead them confidently where they need to go." AJ grinned.

"Very well, but you realize you'll be in the most danger, don't you?"

"I do." Arnold nodded. "Besides, if I get ambushed and killed, at least there will be someone _not afraid to kill_ behind me, protecting the others. After all, _if you died_, we'd _surely_ be doomed." Lila, of course, hadn't missed the emphasis Arnold put on certain words, nor the anger he put behind them. She began to glare, her blush forgotten, when Arnold turned to face her and Helga. "We're going outside to keep watch. There's something I need to talk to AJ about."

"Fine," AJ responded. "Lila, stay in here with Helga. There are two exits and we're guarding one. Monsters should only be able to come out of the exit we walked through. Helga, keep watch."

"I'll do it if I feel like it, Army Brat," Helga griped. She was going to do it regardless, but she didn't like being told what to do, especially when what she needed to do was obvious. AJ smirked at her as Arnold walked out of the room and he followed suit.

"So, what's on your mind?" AJ asked. He took a spot on the side of the door and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest as he settled into his more relaxed stance.

"I want to get some things straight," Arnold replied. Arnold continued to watch the boy in front of him, looking for any signs of weakness or any kind of emotion that may be revealed through what he was doing. Sadly, Arnold couldn't find one aside from contentment.

"Okay, shoot."

"I don't like you," Arnold began, "and I haven't for a while."

"Alert the presses," AJ quipped with a sarcasm laced tone.

"Be quiet!" Arnold demanded. In truth, he'd hoped to get a reaction from his fellow male with the demand. Not surprisingly, there wasn't one. "Everything about you puts me on edge. I have no idea which side you're fighting for if you even have a side. In fact, the only reason you're still here is because Lila wants you around. If it were up to me and Helga, you'd be gone right now. You'd be off somewhere, traveling on your own, because you sure as hell wouldn't be traveling with us! You act like some kind of Silent Hill god, always knowing the right course of action to take and where to go. You've done a good job of covering yourself up, but I'm not fooled. I may have been wrong about you being the Guardian, but then again I might not have. I don't know what to believe in this place, but what I do know is I don't trust you. You're somehow able to take everything in stride, from dead bodies surrounding you, to fighting monsters that seem to come from the pits of Hell itself, to killing people in what could be considered a massacre! You seem to show no other emotion but anger, and it makes you appear to be less of a person and more of a monster yourself!" Arnold took several deep breaths to catch his own after that tirade. Again, AJ didn't show any emotion other than the contentment of being relaxed against the wall. Everything else was impassive, and it drove Arnold crazy. AJ chuckled, knowing full well that Arnold had only based his tirade on what was immediately noticeable.

"Oh, if only you knew how deep this rabbit hole goes, Arnold," AJ said.

"See!? There you go again! Why do you know everything!? Even if you were here for two weeks, or nineteen years, whatever! You can't know everything!"

"And I don't," AJ admitted. "You've already seen that I don't know everything. I don't know why Pyramid Head is here. I don't know why he's after you. I don't know what monsters you'll face, and I sure as hell don't know why any of you are here in the first place. The only person I have even a remote idea about is Lila. You and Helga I have no idea about, but I'm starting to see it the more I observe."

"And what have _you_ observed?" Arnold scoffed. AJ gave Arnold an unsettling grin.

"Well, for starters, I know you have a leadership complex the size of Silent Hill itself. Compared to your size, that's pretty fucking big. Think of it this way, you've practically led every single movement against me, barring the one where Helga suggested I not come along. You've been the first to accuse me of everything, from being heartless and cold, to being the fucking _Guardian_ of all people, to having no emotion to show besides anger. Did you ever consider that I don't show any emotion other than anger to keep anyone with darker agendas from using their knowledge of my emotions against me? You even tried to move your small group away from me in Heaven's Night. You know what I think? I think that the only reason you're keeping Helga around is because she holds onto the very beliefs you do. Aside from that, you claim you're keeping me around because Lila wants me around. I suspect that's a half-truth. You're keeping me around for her but you were hoping, at least for a time, that something bad would happen and I'd be killed, leaving you to lead your group as you had done in the very beginning. Now, you're demanding to lead because it's supposed to be some sort of 'rite of passage' or something similar, proving you're more of a man than I am. Arnold, I'm _nine fucking years old_. I'm as far from a man as you are. The real difference between you and me is I've chosen to accept my darkness and make it work for me, while you continuously deny yours and seek to bury it. Here's a tip, that's what happened to Eddie and it eventually drove him crazy and killed him."

While Arnold remained silent, his mind was anything but. However, instead of screaming at him to punch the boy in front of him, his mind was thrown into a further state of turmoil.

"In addition," AJ continued, "I know you have a problem with me. Hell, at this point, anyone who watched us would know that. I think you hate me because at this point, I'm what you are not. I'm willing to do what you're not. I will _kill_ someone before I allow them to _kill me_. I'm willing to _kill monsters_ before they do the same. Finally, I'm able to lead your small group through this nightmare and protect them while doing it, while you are not. You can hate me all you like, Arnold, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm a major reason why you're alive to do so. Even more damning, instead of complaining about me being this heartless, cold, blah blah blah person, you should be _training your ass off_ so you can protect your friends in the event that I cannot. Now, what's your excuse?"

"I... I don't know," Arnold said. He dropped his head, having lost the majority of his will to fight.

"Welcome to my world," AJ stated. Arnold looked up at him in confusion. AJ was no longer looking at him. Instead, his gaze was turned to the ceiling, and even though his face appeared neutral, his eyes betrayed sorrow. "I've been here so long I can't remember what it's like on the outside world, no matter how much I want to. After the third day, I started to forget that there were good people in the world. By day five, I believed the only people that existed were those that worked for the Order. I've been killing them since day one, but after dealing with them, for some reason I just... began to forget. Three days ago, James Sunderland, Eddie Dombrowski and Laura came into Silent Hill... and I saw innocence for the first time since I forgot it existed."

Arnold was dumbfounded. AJ was showing emotion!

"She couldn't see any of the evil this town held," he continued. "To her, it was a normal resort, the way it was meant to be, only it was abandoned. Sure, she made James' life Hell for a time, but she didn't trust him at first, and for good reason. She wasn't bad... She was just a kid. Couldn't have been much older than us but... she had so much hope that her darkness was nearly nonexistent." AJ shook his head. "But such things are fleeting. She left, without issue, and she hasn't been back since." He looked from the ceiling to Arnold. "I lost my innocence on day one, Arnold, and I've been here so long I've done enough to have lost it a thousand times over. Be thankful you have a good chance of escaping this Hell."

'He could be faking this,' Arnold thought. 'He's faking emotion to get me to lower my guard. That must be it.' He paused for a moment when his brain just noticed the last thing AJ had said. "Wait, what do you mean _I _have a good chance of escaping this Hell?"

"You all do," AJ said. "You, Helga and Lila. You all have a good chance of escaping."

"And you don't?" Arnold questioned. AJ shook his head.

"As I said, I've been here so long I'd basically forgotten what the outside world was like. The chances are good that I lost my chance to escape long ago. It... It's very possible."

"How do you expect me to trust you?"

"How about I tell you something that puts us on more even ground?"

"And what would that be?"

"My motivation, the thing that keeps me going despite everything else. Whether you believe it or not, that's for you to decide." Arnold pondered for a moment. Surely his, Helga and Lila's reasons were the same, but he had a feeling AJ's was similar, if not the same.

"Okay, go ahead."

"Arnold, I'm going to be honest with you, and again it's your choice to believe me or not, but I've lost so much being here. I lost my innocence, something I'll never be able to get back. I lost my childhood, in a sense. And I might've forever lost my chance to escape. But, there's one thing that keeps me going and that is what little hope I have left."

"What hope is that?" Arnold's rough tone faded slightly.

"The hope that, if I ever do escape, I'll return home to whenever or wherever it is I'm supposed to be and return to my family. I want to return to waking up in the morning to find my mom's made breakfast and have my dad ruffle my hair like he always did. I want to go back home and see my friends again... but I've forgotten if I even had any. I want to go back to school, I want to see what life is like on the outside again... but, I know, should I fail, I'll be forever damned here. Honestly, Arnold, if I lose that little hope left, I have no doubt I'll fall into the darkness headfirst, only this time I won't be able to escape it. I'll have nothing left. No motivation to continue, no drive to push on and... no reason to live."

"But, you're supposed to be helping us," Arnold said, fairly surprised he found himself saying that.

"Maybe, but when you all escape and I'm left here, what's next? I'd just have to continue on while you three go back to your lives and, in time, I'll be forgotten. I'll be forgotten like so many others that will come and go. I'll be truly dead, both inside and out." AJ's voice started to crack from sorrow. Even he could not keep this emotion bottled up. "I've been forced to mature at a scary rate, Arnold, as are you. I had to learn the very first day that if I didn't kill someone they would kill me. I had to learn that, if I wanted to survive, I'd have to sacrifice who I was and become something I never thought I would be in a million years. I had to kill my old self, and start over as someone else."

Arnold blinked owlishly. He never expected something like that. In truth, he knew he was more mature than the majority of his classmates, but he never considered the possibility that he became that way out of necessity more than desire. He always figured it was how he was meant to be, and so he went with it, being the smarter, more rational person in his school.

"You're being forced to mature even faster than you are, Arnold," AJ continued. "There's no guesswork there, there's no know-it-all nonsense. That's the obvious smacking everyone across the face. In this place, we _have _to become adults, because if we don't we have no chance of escape. We have to realize that we have things we need to do, even if we don't want to do them. That's what you three have to do now. I'm sincerely sorry I ranted at you the way I did, but what I said is the truth. I learned the necessity and sadly you have to as well. The day may come where I will die, and it'll be up to you to protect your friends, but if you're not ready to take the steps needed to ensure their safety, that'll be it. There will be no hope. I'm not trying to piss you off, Arnold. I am trying my damnedest to make sure you're ready for the inevitable, even if that means I have to become your rival, or someone you despise."

'If he's telling the truth, this changes a heck of a lot,' Arnold thought as he stared at the floor. 'But, there's also a good chance he's lying. Too much here doesn't make sense, but can that really be what he's preparing us for? He's right when he said he's the reason we're still alive, because if he hadn't shown up when he did, the Order would've killed us, or worse. And it's true, he saved me from Pyramid Head. Is that what he's been doing all along?'

"If you still hate me, Arnold, I'm okay with that. Honestly, if we all manage to escape somehow, and we all end up with you and that much time did really pass, if you want me to leave I will leave, no questions asked. I'll forge my own way, as I've done before. But right now, you guys need help. You need all the help you can get, and I'm trying to give you the help that was never given to me. Even Alessa didn't help me very much, as hard as she tried."

"Alessa? Alessa Gillespie?" AJ nodded.

"Yeah, she remained in Silent Hill for a time before she died. The strangest thing was, every time I'd see her, she looked older than before and I never understood why. I thought my head was playing tricks on me, but maybe it wasn't. She was my only friend until Harry showed up... She gave her life so he could escape with his daughter, but that's not the point. The point is, I'm trying to help you understand what needs to be done, what you need to do, what all of you need to do. Lila needs the most help, I can tell you this now."

"Lila? But, she's almost never sad about anything!"

"That doesn't mean she's without her darkness," AJ continued. "I don't know her story, but I'd like to. At least then I'd know how I can at least attempt to help her. In this place, you can almost feel someone's darkness. That may be another reason you fear me, why I put you on edge. I've accepted mine, and I've had to use it to stay alive. My darkness has almost consumed me completely, but my hope keeps me tethered to the outside world. Lila... I feel almost nothing but sorrow for her. She's lost so much, as you have, Arnold, but you have a hope in you that she doesn't. How she smiles the way she does I'll never know."

"Feel someone's darkness?" Arnold questioned skeptically.

"Have you had any feelings of unease, feelings that you can't explain but you know, you just know, something isn't right?" Arnold went wide eyed. Not trusting his voice at the moment, he nodded. "You're starting to sense it, I think."

"There is... another thing," Arnold admitted. "I ignored it at first, but I think it has to do with this... place we're in. The last time the world ripped away... I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach for a minute up to when the siren sounded. After it passed, the feeling left too." This time it was AJ's turn to look shocked.

"You can sense that?" He asked in a whisper.

"I don't know. It was a one time thing," Arnold replied.

"It may happen more."

"You think this makes us even?"

"I've basically given you a tactical nuke to use against me as you see fit. You, Arnold, now know more about me than anyone I've previously met here. Use that how you think it should be used." AJ stood up and began to walk back into the room.

"Hold on a second!" Arnold called. AJ stopped just as his hand began to turn the doorknob and turned to face Arnold again. Arnold let out a quick exhale. "As much as I hate to admit it, we do need your help for now. So, here's my offer, take that negative energy you have and use it to help us instead of instigating us. You seem to know what you're doing, so train us. Train us to be able to stand on our own."

"Don't expect me to go easy on any of you. I'll give you the basics, but I expect you to train even if I'm not around."

"You wouldn't be doing your job if you went easy on us, would you?" AJ laughed.

"Touché, Arnold. Touché." The two walked back into the room, knowing there was a lot of work that needed to be done.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter!<strong>

**AJ: Interesting.**

**Rendan: So you're giving info to Arnold for what reason?**

**AJ: Stupidity, show of good faith, boredom, any other reason conceivable, take your pick.**

**Zero: You might've made a big mistake there.**

**AJ: Maybe, but it'll be me that'll have to live with it, not you.**

**Me: Well said. So, unless anyone has anything witty to say here...**

**AJ: Nope.**

**Rendan: Nada.**

**Zero: Niete.**

**Caley: Zilch.**

**Pyria: Zippo.**

**Me: I get the fucking picture! Well, that'll do it for this time. Oh, wait, small note here. Arnold and AJ won't immediately become friends because of this. Arnold will still be distrusting for obvious reasons as he mulls over what's true and what's not. He's only going to be more tolerant of AJ's presence for the time being. There's a good chance something can and will set one of the two off. Guess who? Okay, NOW I'm done.**

**Zero: Be good.**

**Rendan: Be safe.**

**Me: We're outta here!**


	19. Unorthodox

**Me: Chapter 19!**

**Rendan: Took you long enough to get this one up. You've had this written for what... A month?**

**Me: Somewhere around that. I kept forgetting to get my beta to read it.**

**Zero: Why's that?**

**Me: Because my beta is my best friend and honorary brother, plus a Silent Hill expert, and one of the people I can trust to be 100% honest with me. We tend to get really into whatever it is we're doing, being games or just acting like lunatics, so time really quickly escapes us.**

**Rendan: You're all crazy.**

**Me: Yep, but that's life. Okay, since I wanna cut the intro short, who wants this one?**

**Guardian: Mind if I handle it?**

**Rendan and Zero: HOLY SHIT!**

**Me: Be my guest.**

**Guardian: Thank you. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are the properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. Azard only owns his OCs, the monsters he's created, myself included, and the plot.**

**Rendan: Hey, wait a sec, don't we -?**

**Me: *interrupting* Thanks a bunch, Guardian! Now, let's get to the chapter!**

**Zero: But-!**

**Me: *interrupting again* NOW!**

**Rendan and Zero: Yes sir!**

**Me: Good. Anyway, read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Unorthodox<p>

Arnold and AJ walked back into the room, noting that Helga nor Lila moved much since the two left the room. It seemed as if they had just been sitting there waiting for them. Arnold approached the two and sighed. Before he could speak, however, he found himself on the receiving end of the blunt side of AJ's sword, an impact that knocked him to the ground. Helga immediately readied a small iron ball in her slingshot only to be stopped when Arnold put up his hand.

"This is my fight, Helga," Arnold stated. "Stay out of it!"

'Is he crazy!?' Helga thought. She didn't want to, but she reluctantly put the slingshot away. Lila watched what just occurred in horror. Was Arnold right all along? Why did AJ just randomly attack him!? It didn't make any sense. Paralyzed with shock and fear, Lila stood in place and watched. The radio's static suddenly picked up again as barbed wire shot through the floor, effectively boxing them in the room. No way in, no way out. The screams of monsters could be heard on the other side of the wire as they attempted and failed to break through.

Arnold struggled to his feet, trying to get a good look at AJ to determine what he might have been thinking. Scarily enough, he saw something. Determination and something else he couldn't pick out. He gripped his bat and readied himself, finally moving into a full charge toward his attacker. AJ remained still, waiting for the inevitable swing of the bat. The swing came from his left, resulting in the loud clang of the metal bat striking the steel of the katana. AJ pushed the bat away and turned inward, planting a solid kick into Arnold's gut. Arnold hit the floor, hard. The impact was so rough he almost lost his grip on the bat. Arnold pushed himself to his feet again and began strafing around his intended target.

AJ moved only slightly in response to Arnold's strafing. Arnold charged forward again, this time bringing his bat from the opposite side only to be blocked again by the katana. Not wanted to be kicked again, Arnold stepped in and attempted to strike AJ with a shoulder strike. The strike connected solidly but, due to the awkward swing and stance, didn't carry enough force to knock the militant boy off his feet. AJ staggered back slightly and retook his stance, giving Arnold a much better look at his opponent and the weapon of choice. Arnold couldn't piece why, but there was something seriously wrong with how his opponent was fighting.

This time, Arnold stood his ground and kept his distance, keeping a strong batter's stance. Keeping a close eye on his opponent, however, Arnold noticed him smile slightly before starting a charge of his own. Arnold waited until AJ got close enough before he swung, only to have his opponent duck underneath his swing and land a punch into his gut. Arnold, using this situation to his advantage, reared his head back and rushed it forward, connecting with his opponent's that sent him staggering back. As AJ staggered, Arnold moved forward again and managed to land a heavy swing of the bat into AJ's torso with enough force that it knocked the militant boy off his feet and set him flying back a short distance.

AJ shocked Arnold, however, when he used the momentum of his flight back to roll backwards upon impact, almost immediately getting himself back to his feet. He stood up and cracked his neck audibly before taking several deep breaths. And again, there was a small smile on his face. He rushed forward, waiting for Arnold to swing at him again, which he did, but not in the way he expected. Arnold shifted his swing into an overhead strike, forcing AJ to sidestep it before planting his elbow firmly into Arnold's stomach.

Arnold doubled over, having lost his breath due to the ferocity of the strike. AJ backed up again, putting some distance between Arnold and himself. Arnold, after managing to catch his breath, reached into the left pocket of his vest and removed the health drink that had been stored away and twisted the top off. He reared back to take a drink when his eyes suddenly widened. He drank nothing! While he drank nothing, his aches and pains vanished without much of a trace, allowing him to stand back up without issue and ready himself once more. The two stared at each other for a time, neither of them ready to make the first move. It was then Arnold finally realized what was wrong with their fight.

'His sword!' Arnold exclaimed in thought. 'He's been using it wrong! But... why?' Arnold tightened his grip on the bat and let out a low growl. "Are you toying with me or something!?" Arnold shouted. At AJ's slightly confused shift in expression, Arnold elaborated. "You've been using the blunt side of your sword... You couldn't kill with that side... if you... wanted... to..." Arnold released his death grip and let his bat hang at his side as his other hand came up to slap himself in the face.

"You're only figuring this out now?" AJ asked. Arnold didn't respond beyond a simple nod, an action that seriously confused both Helga and Lila. "We'll discuss this in a minute. Right now, we've got bigger problems on our hands." AJ flipped the sword in his hands, back to where the bladed side would face his adversary and turned toward the door blocked off by barbed wire.

_"That was entertaining,"_Arnold heard a voice call from inside his head. Shocked, his head shot up and he looked around, trying to ascertain exactly where the voice came from. His vision finally turned to the opposite end of the room from where the roars and cries of the monsters were coming from and saw the black silhouette of the Guardian leaning against the barbed wire. He said nothing and stayed out of the line of sight of the others, but he could see an odd form of a smile on his shadowy features. _"That's right, Arnold. I'm in your head now." _The grim smile on the Guardian's face grew. _"Best turn around, boy. Don't want anyone to think you're crazy, do you?"_

"Arnold!" AJ called. Arnold's head snapped back to the boy in front of him. "Keep your head on straight!" Arnold's gaze shifted back to find the Guardian gone yet again. With a deep breath, Arnold turned around to face the roaring monsters, though they were obstructed by the barbed wire. Suddenly, the barbed wire began to retract into the floor, one length at a time. Helga stood in front of Lila protectively, once more pulling out her slingshot. Arnold regained the death grip on his bat as he held it in front of him.

'If I don't fight,' Arnold thought as the lengths of barbed wire retracted more quickly into the ground, 'Helga and Lila will be killed,' the first sign of a monster's head became viewable through the wires, 'I'll be killed.' As the wires continued retracting a monster's arm tried reaching through the wires to grab one of the kids, even though they were a fair distance from the door. 'Grandma and Grandpa...' the wires began bending as fewer of them stood against the oncoming monsters, revealing the swarm to be comprised of Grey Children, Nurses and Jilts, 'they'll be alone.' The barrier protecting the students was nearly gone. One monster squeezed through, a Jilt, only to end up on the receiving end of AJ's blade as he lopped the beast's head off. 'If I don't...' the last wires retracted, sending the shoving monsters into the room as they started to swarm, '_they _will!'

Arnold charged forward, surprising the others as he barreled headlong into the swarm of oncoming monsters. Each swing of his bat was rewarded with the satisfying clang of the bat meeting monster flesh. A nurse threatened to stab him from behind but found her attack cut short via a katana blade through the head. Arnold backed up slightly only to collide with someone else's back.

"Not bad, Arnold," AJ praised, standing back to back with Arnold. "You'll need to work on your awareness though. I can't keep saving your ass." As AJ finished, Arnold juked left and brought his bat down on the head of a Jilt attempting a side attack.

"And you're supposed to be training us?" Arnold quipped with a smirk. AJ snickered and shifted in the same direction, cutting down a Grey Child that was about to latch onto Arnold's back.

"How about we just shut up and kill these damn things? We'll argue later!" AJ shouted. The two split, swinging at any monster that got too close. Amazingly, whenever a monster neared one from a blind spot, the other would appear and take the monster out.

"That's the first good idea you've had!" Arnold laughed as the two passed each other on the pseudo battlefield.

_"Enjoying yourself, aren't you, Arnold?"_ The Guardian's voice called from inside Arnold's head. Arnold paid the voice no heed as he kept fighting the incoming monsters. Helga and Lila watched the battle in awe. These two had been at each other's throats for the majority of their time since AJ returned. Now, they fought at each other's side like fellow combatants.

'What's gotten into those two?' Helga thought. 'Are pigs flying or something!?' She kept her slingshot ready but it didn't look like she'd need it. None of the monsters were getting past the two boys, each of them hitting the floor with a well placed strike with the bat and the sword.

"The boy will become a knight," an eerily familiar voice stated. Helga and Lila, hearing the voice, looked around franticly for the source of it, only to find nothing out of the ordinary, barring the obvious. "Together," the voice continued, "he and the other knight will form an unstoppable duo, cutting down monster and cultist alike. The path has begun, but nothing is set in stone." The voice ended with a laugh that seemed to fade out into nothingness. Helga thought she felt her spine crawl a little as the voice lowered in volume until it vanished.

"What was that?" Lila asked. Helga kept her eyes on the battle before her until the last monster fell, never to arise again.

"That was the Guardian," Helga lowly stated so only Lila could hear. Lila paled slightly but found herself smiling as she saw both Arnold and AJ moving toward them while the static on the radio faded into a dull roar. The static suddenly spiked again as the four turned toward the open doorway, finding themselves face to face with a new monster.

The monster was tall, very tall, and lanky. It didn't seem to have much muscle tone on it, if any at all and had a slightly distended belly. Like many of the other monsters they'd seen, this creature had no eyes but it's mouth opened wide only to reveal a few teeth inside the monster's mouth. It moved slowly but somehow managed to maintain its balance as it moved, considering more of the weight seemed to be focused on the front. Arnold, however, had to do a double-take.

'Grandpa?' Arnold questioned in thought. Helga, acting quickly, loaded a metal shot into the slingshot and fired it, hitting the monster directly in the forehead. The monster fell over, and didn't get back up as the radio's static fell again to a dull roar.

"That was it?" Helga asked. She let out a quick chuckle. "That was easy!" Her voice came out shallow and shaky, however, having noticed that the monster bared a striking resemblance to Arnold's grandfather. Arnold, not saying anything, approached the downed monster that looked so much like his grandfather, and stood off to its side, looking down at the beast. His breathing picked up slightly as memories he wished he could forget resurfaced. He took a step closer to the beast. Big mistake.

The radio's static picked up again as the beast moved, grabbing Arnold's leg with its hand. With a quick jerk, Arnold found himself floored from the monster's sudden action. The monster opened its mouth as it continued dragging Arnold closer, intending to bite him when he got close enough. Fortunately for Arnold, AJ ran in and sliced the monster's arm. While it didn't cut directly through, it did leave a nasty gash on the beast's arm. The beast cried out in pain and released Arnold from its clutches, finally choosing to move to its feet as Arnold did the same.

The two stood on opposite sides of the beast, waiting for someone to come up with an idea for fighting this creature. The monster turned around, getting a good look at the one who'd attacked him. Taking advantage of the monster's movement, Arnold ran forward and swung his bat at the creature's legs. The bat hit the monster's kneecap with a resounding crack, but that only seemed to annoy the creature. It swung its arms back and struck Arnold in the side, knocking the boy to the floor. Before the monster could advance on the downed fourth grader, AJ leapt from his spot and slashed at the monster's back. As the monster turned back to attack, AJ dropped and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the monster's strike. After the monster's swing, it fell forward, planting its face in the ground. Once more, the radio's static fell to a dull roar.

After scrambling to his feet, Arnold kept his distance from the downed monster for fear that it'd spring up and attack him again. AJ approached and raised his sword high only to leap away and start backing up when the creature's hand shot out to grab him, once more raising the level of static on the radio. Again, the creature reached its feet and began shambling itself toward Arnold, attempting to catch what it decided was the weaker prey.

As it shambled over to Arnold, he charged over and swung his bat at the beast's midsection. The bat connected well and knocked the monster over again, making the beast hit the ground, hard. Without waiting this time, Arnold rushed over to the creature's head and began swinging vertically, bringing the bat down on the monster's head repeatedly. Within moments, the beast's cries of pain echoed throughout the room as the radio's static finally fell back to a dull roar. The creature, finally, stopped moving.

Arnold dropped to his knees after he was more than certain the monster he just faced was dead. His breathing became ragged for a moment as what just occurred sank in. He said nothing, his eyes becoming slightly glazed over as if he were in a type of trance. Before he could speak, he felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder. Looking up, he found Helga standing over him, giving him a sympathetic look. Without saying a word, she dropped to her knees next to Arnold and gave him a hug. Neither of the two said anything, for nothing needed to be said.

_"Well well,"_ the voice of the Guardian began, though his voice was only heard in Arnold's head, _"I didn't think you had it in you, Football Head. You've earned a fair amount of my respect. I'd be proud, that's no easy feat."_

'Shut up,' Arnold thought back, unsure if the Guardian could even hear him.

_"You didn't kill your grandpa, idiot,"_ the Guardian replied. _"Say hello to a monster brought out from your own mind. I call it, the Oldman."_

'Did you-?'

_"No, I didn't. It created itself from your mind. I just named it. Have fun, you'll be facing more of them as time goes on. Speaking of, you seemed to be enjoying yourself when you were fighting those monsters earlier."_

'Shut up... Just shut up.'

"Well done," came a voice Arnold had been waiting to hear. He released himself from Helga's embrace and stood up again before turning to the speaker.

"This coming from you, AJ, I suppose I should be thankful... or proud. I'm not sure which," Arnold commented sarcastically. AJ rolled his eyes.

"Back to that already, are we?" AJ asked with a smirk.

"We're not killing... I mean _fighting_ monsters, so basically, yeah. Anyway, why were you going easy on me? I thought you said you weren't going to hold back."

"If you're referring to using my sword backwards, I wasn't going easy on you. I was taking a step in keeping myself from killing you," AJ explained. "Training isn't going to do you any good if I kill you before you learn anything." Arnold narrowed an eye at the second boy of the group.

"So what was the point of that sneak attack?"

"Lesson one, Arnold. Lesson one."

"And lesson one is...?"

"Always be alert and aware of your surroundings."

"Isn't that what the radio is for?" Helga questioned, holding up her radio for emphasis.

"Those don't work on cultists, and if you're trying to kill someone quietly, would you run around shouting who knows what at _any_ volume, let alone your loudest possible volume?" AJ paused for a moment as he waited for an answer. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't one. "That's what I thought."

"So you're going to be randomly attacking us with the back of your sword until we can... do what exactly?" Arnold questioned.

"Until you can successfully block my sneak attacks and, even better, if you can hit me with one. Until then, I'm not teaching you a damn thing."

"I see..." Arnold and Helga groaned.

"Well, I don't know about you three, but I think we need to get some stuff done. Don't you?" Without saying another word, AJ turned and walked out of the room, whistling a jaunty tune as he stepped out.

"Did you ever get the feeling we're putting our lives in the Devil's hands?" Helga asked. Arnold looked to Helga, then to the open doorway, and finally back to Helga.

"Every single time he speaks and we listen," Arnold replied. Lila sighed and shook her head. She looked down to the knife in her hand and then to the dead monsters on the ground. In her mind, she began to question her resolve. Could she really do what Arnold just did? Could she overcome her own inhibitions and shortcomings and actually fight? She didn't have to lie to herself to know that she desperately wanted to help the group, she just didn't know what she'd be able to do. She walked out of the room, following the one she knew would be able to teach her. After a few moments, Arnold and Helga did the same.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<strong>

**Rendan: So the training starts and more hell is set to break loose. Now I know why the Guardian asked to do the disclaimer.**

**Me: Yeah, he's going to be playing a bit more of a role now.**

**Zero: I can see why. He's fucking with everyone's minds.**

**Me: That is his job.**

**AJ: Hey guys, what'd I miss?**

**Rendan: Aside from the Guardian, not much.**

**AJ: He's here!? Where's that bastard!? *readies katana***

**Me: Chill, he left already.**

**AJ: *disappointed* Damn! Oh well. Next time for sure. *sheathes katana***

**Me: Time for the next monster dictionary!**

* * *

><p><strong>Name: Oldman<br>****Description: A very tall and lanky monster with a distended belly. Large mouth with few teeth inside, none of which are actually sharp. Though appearing very skinny, the Oldman is very slow and easy to run away from. Seemingly easy to defeat, the Oldman is an expert deceiver, able to fool human and radio alike.  
><strong>**Speed: Slow  
><strong>**Attack Methods: Sneak attacks, grabbing and beating, biting.  
><strong>**Symbolism: The Oldman represents Arnold's grandfather, Phil. It's seemingly easily defeated due to Arnold's knowledge of his grandfather's belief that he is not long for this world and will die in when he turns 91. This is also supported by how weak the beast looks and walks. His grandfather's tricky nature is expressed through the creature's 'play dead' routine that it uses to hunt prey. The beast represents all of Arnold's fears surrounding his grandfather, as well as any hidden fears he may not realize he possesses.**

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><p><strong>Rendan: Holy shit, man.<strong>

**Zero: Seriously. Fucked up.**

**AJ: Silent Hill.**

**Rendan and Zero: We know.**

**Me: Well, that'll do it for this time.**

**Rendan, Zero and AJ: Be good and be safe everyone.**

**Me: We're outta here!**


	20. Wildcard

**Me: At long last, Chapter 20!**

**Rendan: Now we're finally going to see what happens next!**

**Me: I don't know, I hope you guys enjoy this.**

**Zero: I'm pretty sure we will.**

**AJ: In leu of a long overdone opening, how about we get the disclaimer done and over with and get this puppy started.**

**Rendan: Agreed. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold, which are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. Azard only owns his OCs, the monsters he's created and the plot... as fucked up as it is.**

**Me: Thanks as always, Rendan. Don't worry, I'll get a chapter up for you soon.**

**Rendan: Thanks.**

**AJ: Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 20: Wildcard<span>

The four students trekked through the Hellish school, the P.S. 118 students doing their damnedest to ensure that nothing escaped their senses. It was harder than it looked and it honestly almost drove them crazy for the first half hour. It shot their paranoia straight through the roof, but surprisingly it actually allowed them to hear a monster approaching before the radio's static picked it up. The monster itself, a Jilt, was quickly dispatched, Arnold being the first to jump into action and smashed the monster's head against the wall with his bat. The creature fell to the floor as the static on the radio once more dropped to a dull roar almost as quickly as it increased in volume.

Helga stared at the scene in awe. In all truth and honesty, she'd never thought Arnold would've been the one to be able to do that first. If Helga were being completely honest, she believed she was going to be the first to take a monster's life. Granted, Arnold had been the first of the three to take a life, but not to the point he'd spring into action to end a monster's wretched existence. Helga watched the scene unfold, surprised and amazed, but also a bit jealous. Arnold had been able to overcome his fears, at least slightly, and do what needed to be done. Her eyes turned to the second male who wore a smile on his face. Helga's eyes narrowed at him. Was it possible that he was corrupting them? Maybe. It certainly seemed possible. Arnold would never have done that but, after meeting the fourth member of the group, Arnold's anger went through the roof and she supposed he needed some sort of outlet for it. Was it also possible that the town itself was responsible? Again, maybe. Helga didn't lie to herself when she said just being in this place pissed her off to an inane degree. Despite this, Helga had to wonder one thing. When would she be able to take a life?

Lila was undoubtably surprised by what just happened. Arnold actively seeking to kill monsters instead of waiting for it to attack first? Was that possible? It did just happen so it must've been. Lila, much like Helga, was surprised by the sudden change in Arnold's behavior, particularly his anger which had gone beyond anything either of the two had ever seen before. However, Lila had a feeling she knew exactly where it was coming from. It had to have been coming from not just the town itself, not just from the fourth member, although Lila honestly didn't know what Arnold had against him, but it had to be coming from how little sense any of this could make. What Lila didn't know was while that may have been the case before, it certainly wasn't the case now.

Arnold took several breaths as the act of the kill sunk in again. Strangely, he didn't feel that twisting in the pit of his stomach like he did when he realized he killed the Nurse in the hospital. No, this feeling was much, much different. He felt good, powerful even, along with a sense that he'd done the right thing. This was a much better feeling. Along with this feeling came the desire to keep this feeling for as long as possible. Arnold didn't exactly know where it was coming from but he liked it. He supposed it must've been coming from what he realized before the barbed wire allowed the monsters to attack them in the room. He wasn't too far off, but he also believed that a certain person had a bit of an influence on him as well, and it wasn't who the other two believed it was.

_"I'm flattered,"_ the voice of the Guardian spoke inside his head. Arnold shook his head vehemently, trying to dislodge the voice from his mind. Oh, if only it were that simple. Arnold absolutely refused to admit that the Guardian had spoken to him in his mind. He worried that his friends would think he was crazy. Then again, maybe he was. Was his mental sanity so far gone already that he'd begun to hear voices? After hearing what sounded like the Guardian sighing in slight disappointment, he checked the body of the dead monster only to watch as it bubbled and dissolved right before his eyes. Arnold let out a surprised shout recoiled from the dissolving creature and looked back, hoping he wasn't the only one seeing that. Fortunately, he wasn't.

AJ watched on as Arnold's first quick reaction ended with a Jilt meeting its end with its head crushed against the wall. He grinned broadly, his eyes showing a slight twinkle of mirth to them. Letting out a soft breath, he turned his head to look into the darkness of the hallways in the school, looking directly into the inky black abyss. When Arnold shouted, he jerked his head back around to watch as the Jilt's body dissolved into nothingness. Letting out a soft sigh and shaking his head, he whistled loudly to catch everyone's attention. He said nothing, only jerking his head back, as he turned and began leading them further into the darkness.

As they traversed the school, the newcomers' thoughts turned to their families outside of this Hellish nightmare. What would happen to their families if they'd died here? What if they'd be drawn in? Lila focused mainly on saving her father so that they could go home and pretend like this nightmare never happened. Why was her father here in the first place? She'd never want him to go through anything like this! Sadly, it wasn't as if she'd be able to do anything about it now. They continued walking until they located the room with the massive hole in the chalkboard. The four approached it and looked inside, seeing only blackness in the pus-filled hole. The four looked to each other, wondering who would be brave enough to stick their arm into the hole.

"Don't look at me," AJ said as he raised his hands. "I'm no coward, but this isn't my test, it's yours. If I interfere, there's a good chance that I'll be hurt or, worse, killed." Lila nodded faintly, having no reason to distrust him. Arnold and Helga, however, looked at him through narrowed, disbelieving eyes.

"Prove it, Army Brat," Helga stated in annoyance. Arnold wasn't sure he'd agreed with that sentiment though. AJ had been right about a lot, but if he was hesitating it wasn't due to fear. He must've had some idea of what was going on. Arnold thought about telling Helga to stop, but a feeling in the back of his head, most likely caused by the Guardian, told him to let it occur. If it occurred it would either establish some kind of trust between the group, or scare the life out of them. Either way, it seemed win-win for the Guardian. Arnold was about to go against the urge, but AJ apparently felt the need to prove his point.

"Arnold," AJ spoke as he rolled up the slight amount of sleeve on his left arm, "have a med kit or health drink ready." Arnold nodded. Something was just... wrong with how certain his tone was. AJ took a deep breath and shoved his left arm into the hole. For a brief second nothing happened. Helga was about to comment about how right she was when an earsplitting shriek pierced the air. In the next second AJ was pulled forward and slammed his head into the chalkboard as blood started gushing out of the hole where his arm was.

AJ tried, desperately, to pull his arm away but it proved to be no use. Whatever had a hold of his arm had a strong grip. Lila shrieked and quickly grabbed onto AJ's waist, trying to yank his arm out of the hole. Arnold joined in next, followed by Helga. With their combined strength, they managed to break the monster's grip and pull AJ's arm out of the hole. Looking at the arm the monster grabbed, it was a, for lack of a better word, mess. His arm was cut up horrendously and was covered in blood, undoubtably his own. AJ couldn't even move it without flinching in pain.

Arnold quickly pulled out a first aid kit and held it out to AJ. AJ snapped the thing open with only his right hand and the three others watched as the blood he'd lost retreated into his body and the many cuts adorning his arm shrunk until they vanished entirely. AJ let out a sigh and gave Arnold a nod of thanks, which Arnold returned. While Helga stared on in disbelief, Lila summoned up her courage and shoved her own arm into the hole while the others were distracted. If AJ could do it without fear, she could too! To her surprise, nothing attacked her.

Lila moved her arm about inside the hole, eventually managing to grasp something that felt like a piece of paper. She removed her hand, holding a folded piece of paper. As she worked to unfold the paper, a key fell out of the folds and landed on the floor. Lila immediately dropped the paper and reached down to pick up the key, a smile beaming on her face. One key closer to saving her father! Even if it was the first out of five, this was still a step forward. Arnold, after realizing what Lila had just done, his attention being drawn by the sound of the key hitting the floor, picked up the note and unfolded it completely. With a glance back at Lila who'd turned her attention to their recently recovered associate, Arnold turned his attention to the paper and read its contents.

_And so do you walk in the shadow of death, Arnold, for his shadow casts its ever present loom over this town and all who dwell within it. Did I use that word correctly? Loom, I mean? Ah, no matter, you didn't come here to read me banter with myself. You came to learn about Harry Mason, a father and a man worthy of the highest respect that could be given to him. Sad that such things happened... but I'm getting ahead of myself. You now stand in a spot that Harry Mason had to traverse in order to find out what had happened to his daughter, Cheryl._

_ After a car accident stranded the two, Harry wandered into Silent Hill in order to find and save his daughter from the evil that resided here. Hell, he was the first man, not including Travis Grady, who I'm sure you've read about before even to a small degree, to meet the crazy bitch Dahlia Gillespie. I would suggest you track Dahlia next, but I know you already know about her... though I wonder how much you actually know about the situation. I'll only say this once. If you wish to see the brunt of Dahlia's evil, go to the Green Lion Antiques and see for yourself, however, that's not your next target. Merely a side-track if you're interested enough._

_ Enough rambling. Harry Mason traversed the halls of this school years ago to save his daughter, and it was the second place where he was subjected to the Otherworld. Every room he entered, or was able to, held untold horrors or puzzles he needed to solve in his attempt to locate his missing daughter. He too traveled a good portion of Silent Hill, meeting another victim of the place, Cybil Bennett whom he is directly responsible for saving. Regardless, Harry lost one daughter here, but gained another. It turned out that his daughter Cheryl was actually Alessa Gillespie, or at least a part of her. The two came together one she returned to Silent Hill and they both died here. Alessa once more split herself in two, giving Harry his daughter back, albeit as a baby, as she gave her life to save him. Sad... I miss Alessa. She was so nice, well, to me at least and to anyone that wasn't a part of the Order._

_ Harry is something of an anomaly here. He is the only person that did not face any monsters that dealt with his psyche. Instead, he battled the monsters of Alessa's mind, even though he lost his wife and his daughter, granted he got the latter back. He's been away from Silent Hill for some time now, but I can feel something strange. It still calls out to the Masons, Silent Hill I mean. Soon he will be forced to return, he and his daughter as well, but it doesn't seem to be time yet. When his daughter does return, I may be forced to resume the duty I was initially bred to undertake unless another should take my position away from me for some reason. No matter. Your next target is in the prison. I'll tell you who it is when you find the note._

_ P.S. Ask Helga if she's happy that she almost got your ally killed for me, would you kindly? I'd really like to know her answer. It's just so much fun watching you kids._

The note cut off there. Arnold quickly pocketed it. He had no intention of asking Helga that question, that much was sure. Arnold knew Helga already felt bad for what happened, even if she didn't want to show it. Asking her such a thing would only make matters that much worse. He glanced toward the other three, keeping a firm look-out for any monsters that might be slowly approaching. Nothing. The radio's static stayed at the dull roar. Arnold sighed, thankful that another monster wasn't in the immediate area. Arnold growled slightly, definitely angry with the audacity the Guardian had shown.

_"Well, what do you expect?"_ The Guardian asked. _"I would like to know, after all. It seems to be a problem with you all... this trust thing. Does everyone where you're from have issues trusting others, Arnold? I wonder if that's true. Helga seems to, at least a bit. You certainly do. Lila... I'm not sure. I can't get a fix on the girl. I'd like to, don't get me wrong, but I can't."_

'I'm glad you can't,' Arnold thought back at the Guardian. 'No doubt you'd use whatever was in her mind to torment her just like you torment the rest of us.' Arnold's fists clenched as his side as his anger was being visibly shown. From within his head, he could hear the Guardian laughing. To say the least, it was highly unsettling.

_"Is that what you think?"_ The Guardian questioned. _"Allow me to put those fears to rest, Arnold. I'm here to ensure that you all do what is necessary to accomplish what is needed, while not aiding you one bit in the process... Or am I actually aiding you? Have I been lying to you from the beginning? Am I closer than you think? Perhaps I'm behind you..." _Arnold whirled around to face the entity... but it wasn't there. _"But maybe not. As I said, you'll never know what it is I'm out to do or why I'm doing it. That's how it must be. I'm not truly aiding you, seeing as how I'm not doing everything for you, but I am giving you what may be needed in the immediate future. The world outside this Hell may not work in the same way, but there are undoubtably aspects out there that do. If they didn't at all, the Order would never exist. By the way, you might want to turn back around. Your friends are looking at you as if you're crazy."_ The Guardian let out another harrowing laugh as Arnold turned back around, noticing that Helga and Lila were looking at him in confusion and worry.

"Uh," Arnold stammered, trying to think of a logical, or even remotely understandable reason for why he was acting the way he was acting. Unsurprisingly, he didn't come up with much. As he wracked his brain for a reason, AJ stood up again and dusted himself off. His eyes met Arnold's as a brief flash of what might've been understanding passed between them.

"Relax," AJ said, drawing the attention away from Arnold. "We got what we came here for, so let's get the hell out of here and go where we need to go next." Arnold gave him a small, curt nod in appreciation to which AJ nodded very slightly.

"Hold up, Army Brat," Helga stated angrily. "Just what the hell is going on with Football Head?" Helga moved into his path and stared angrily at him. Taking in a small breath, AJ moved her to the side and spoke.

"It's a side effect of this town," AJ stated. "Arnold's becoming more in tune with Silent Hill and seems to be developing abilities unique only to him. I have no idea what such abilities are, or how they're activated, but his actions can be reactions to the strange sensations that are undoubtably going through him. It's the first time I've seen anything like it."

"And how would you know that?" Helga asked as she jumped into his path. AJ growled slightly and was about to answer, but someone else beat him to the punch. Helga was pulled away from her position by Arnold who looked her dead in the eyes.

"Are you telling me you haven't felt anything since we've been here?" Arnold questioned her. When Helga gave him a somewhat curious look, Arnold continued. "Don't tell me you haven't felt any of those weird feelings since we got here, Helga. I know you have. I don't know how but I know you have. You've had those weird feelings in your gut, those feelings that something just isn't right." Helga's eyes slowly began to widen as Arnold continued to peg the feelings she'd been experiencing but didn't know what to make of it. "You've had those feelings, that's what he's talking about." Arnold turned his head to Lila but spoke more softly. "Haven't you been getting those feelings too, Lila?"

"Y-yes," Lila stuttered. It wasn't a total lie. She did have the sensations that told her that something just wasn't right, however, she'd be lying if she said she knew exactly what Arnold was talking about. She didn't get any weird feelings in her gut. Other than the fear of monsters being around any potential corner, she didn't get any strange feelings in her gut... barring maybe one time. When AJ attacked Arnold and the static rose on the radio, a strange feeling had enveloped her just before the barbed wire shot from the floor and barred the monsters' path. She wouldn't have thought much of it, but when the feeling vanished and the wire began to retreat... she believed there really was something going on here, something that she, for the life of her, couldn't explain.

"Fine," Helga admitted. "You're right, but I don't like to say that I've been getting the weird feelings. I don't like thinking about it because I think it'll drive me crazy!" Arnold nodded once, understanding Helga's concerns. It was in that moment that Helga realized that Arnold had been holding onto her shoulders the entire time. Making sure she didn't react, she pulled back, making Arnold release his grip on her.

"The last thing any of you need to be doing is to be denying what you're feeling," AJ stated. The three turned to him again. "If you keep denying what is there, you'll only succeed in driving yourself mad that much quicker and before you ask how I know, I saw it happen to Eddie for damn's sake. He just... kept denying more and more until he lost his mind. It's not about fighting against your darkness, it's about accepting it as a part of yourself, but it's easier said than done."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Arnold began, "I think he's right. We're not going to get anywhere if we keep arguing about every little thing. We can settle our differences as soon as we all get the heck out of here. Until then, I'm willing to put the other crap aside as long as it all ends that much sooner." Helga nodded her assent.

"There's just one problem though," Helga pointed out. "Lila won't fight." Lila looked down at the floor as her own shortcoming was pointed out again. She hated being the center of attention while the attention was like this. Negative. She hated it ever so much.

"She doesn't need to fight just yet," AJ said. "She can fight when she's ready and I'll help teach her when she is, granted I will have to take it easy on her." Arnold nodded slightly, understanding that Lila would need the most help out of the three. She was the only one of them that hadn't yet used the weapon she'd been given, but he could understand her reservations. Lila didn't have the instinct of a killer. Hell, Arnold would doubt she had it in her to hurt anyone at all. Lila trudged slowly over to AJ, keeping her head down to the floor. She tugged on his shirt, gaining his attention. As AJ turned his head to face her, Lila's hand shot out and slapped him across the face, drawing surprised looks from the entire group. AJ and Arnold sported dropped jaws while the former held on to his stinging cheek. Helga had a stupefied look on her face. No one expected that! Lila even liked him, so why would she hit him?! Under the pressure, Lila looked up at AJ and smiled softly.

"I got a sneak attack on you," Lila pointed out. "Does that mean you'll train me?" All eyes that were currently locked onto Lila widened and, in an instant, the calm, collected front AJ put on himself crashed.

"Holy shit!" AJ shouted, throwing him arms around wildly. "How did I not see that coming!? Holy mother of-" He turned to face Arnold and Helga who were both now watching him, "She gets it and she was able to do what I said not even an hour after I said it! She beat you guys to the punch! Oh my god! How in the name of Hell did I miss something like that coming!? Wait! I know how! You're a freaking genius! You've now, officially, become the most dangerous member of this group!"

"Woah woah woah," Arnold said. "How is she the most dangerous member? You've killed way more than any of us have. I mean, if anyone deserves that title it's you."

"You're missing the point, Arnold!" AJ exclaimed. "Look at me! I have a military vest that's torn from battle and I've got a freaking katana! Even if I'm a kid, I look like a threat, even if just a small one! I can't stand here, look adorable, and then when my enemy's guard is down drive a knife into their throat! Lila, on the other hand can stand here, be adorable which isn't hard for her at all," as AJ said that Lila found herself blushing a pretty shade of pink, "hide that knife behind her back, then when an Order member gets too close because he believes she's an easy grab, drive that knife into his heart, his neck, or his head!" AJ took several deep breaths and, in a quick moment, recollected himself, bringing back his calm and collected demeanor. "I'll train you, but I'll have to go over basics with you first." AJ spoke calmly again, as if his massive rant of sorts didn't happen. Lila nodded, though the blush at being called adorable still prettily colored her cheeks.

"Well," Helga began, "that wasn't completely crazy or terrifying at all, was it?" Arnold nodded his head silently, too stunned to say anything. They two eventually came out of their own stupor and, for the first time, noticed the blush that was on Lila's face. Helga, in surprise, turned to Arnold and whispered to him. "Hey, Football Head, do you think that Lila... you know?"

"I... don't know," Arnold admitted. "Maybe. It certainly would explain a lot." Helga nodded quietly. "Okay, so, what do we do now?" Arnold asked aloud, drawing the attention of the other two members of the group. AJ turned to Lila and shrugged.

"To be honest, I think that's your call," AJ admitted. "Well, yours and Lila's anyway." When the two looked to him, he elaborated. "Lila's dad is the one in peril, yeah? So, she has to be the one that makes the call to where we go. Arnold's got the brains and strategy to figure out where we need to go, so why not leave it up to a vote."

"There's a small problem," Lila admitted. "In the poem, it seems to only point to four places, but we need five keys. Where is the fifth one?" Lila turned to the others. While Arnold and Helga appeared to be confused, AJ showed no such confusion.

"There were five," AJ pointed out. "Think about it. How did it go again? 'From the halls of education,' School. 'To the concrete walls of prison,' Prison. 'We've planned your situation, for heathens will not listen,' The Order. 'The hallowed halls of god,' a church. 'Travel towards truth and seek the truest wisdom.' Admittedly, that's a confusing one. There are multiple places where people have found truth."

"Could it be talking about a library or something like that?" Helga questioned. Arnold placed a finger on his chin and pondered the thought for the moment.

"I wouldn't really go to a library for truth," AJ commented. "Just saying, if you look into a history book or anything like that, it's all perspective. Who's writing it and how they recall it. I remember hearing someone say that history is written by the victors. I think Mikey Dorano said it before he attacked Pyramid Head and died."

"Travel towards truth..." Arnold muttered just underneath his breath. "What about the hotel?" When the other three looked at him, Arnold smirked. "James Sunderland found his truth in the hotel, the one that broke him out of his delusions." AJ's eyes widened.

"Son of a bitch," AJ uttered, though it wasn't directed toward anyone in particular. "Arnold may be on to something. So, the other choices we have is an Order hideout, prison, a church, and the Lakeview Hotel. So, what's the call?" Arnold, Helga and Lila grouped up for a quick moment.

"The Order, so it's out of the way," Arnold stated. AJ nodded. "The only question is which do we go to? We've been in two of those places already and didn't find anything of the sort that could've resembled a key."

"Then why not go to the top? Or what used to be the top?" AJ asked.

"What are you talking about?" Lila questioned. AJ grinned.

"Get ready people, we're invading Green Lion Antiques next."

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><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter!<br>**

**Zero and Rendan: *laughing their heads off* Dude, AJ flipped the fuck out!**

**AJ: Can you blame me?! I didn't see that coming!**

**Me: I don't think anyone did. At least, I hope they didn't. **

**AJ: They shouldn't have.**

**Rendan: Well, does anyone else have anything more to comment?**

**-Everyone looks at each other-**

**Zero: Oh! I got one! What the fuck is the Guardian doing?**

**Me: Not going to spoil that one. Let the fans figure it out, see if they're right.**

**Zero: Ah.**

**Rendan: I think that's it.**

**Zero: Yep.**

**AJ: Be good and be safe, everyone!**

**Me: We're outta here!**


	21. The First Puzzle

**Me: And after a long as hell wait, Chapter 21.**

**Rendan: Sweet Kami, this one took a while.  
><strong>

**Zero: No kidding.**

**Me: Yeah, this one had a bit of an interesting history. Aside from what happened that messed me up for a while (it's on my profile if you're really curious), I've had this done for a while, but my Beta was having problems with his computer so he only just got back to me on it. His computer still isn't working so we're trying to work out a solution to the problem.**

**Rendan: I get it.**

**AJ: Jesus Christ, though. It's about time we found out what happened next.**

**Me: Yeah... speaking of, would you mind getting something for me?**

**AJ: What?**

**Me: A ten pack of Yoohoo. Or just ten cans. Take your pick.**

**AJ: M'kay. *leaves***

**Rendan and Zero: *Stare at me.***

**Zero: Mind if I—?**

**Me: Go nuts.**

**Zero: Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All Azard owns are the plot, the OCs, the monsters he's created, and whatever other insane bullshit he's come up with.**

**Me: Thanks for that... Anyway, read and enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 21: The First Puzzle<span>

It had been some time since the four kids left the halls of the school, hopefully leaving behind Pyramid Head and The Guardian as well. Along the way, the four stopped in several places to either catch their breath or train a little bit. Arnold and AJ had clashed a few times since leaving and not once had Arnold been able to block the surprise attack. It seemed that every time he got close the pattern of attack would suddenly change, leaving him completely clueless and utterly confused all at once. Arnold had little idea how consistently changing the method of attack would help his paranoia any. If anything, it shot it through the roof. Of course, it wasn't any easier dealing with both that and the taunting from The Guardian.

Helga clashed a few times with AJ too, though hers were attempts at performing sneak attacks, all of which failed spectacularly. She either missed entirely, was blocked, or hit the wrong person! Thankfully any damage Helga caused was minor. She wasn't going for a kill shot after all. When Arnold or AJ tried to explain why it might've been happening, Helga ignored them and only replied by saying she'd figure it out herself. It seems her time in Silent Hill hadn't stemmed her stubbornness. If anything, her time in this town of curses and Hell amplified it some. Humorously, that only happened while AJ was around. When he'd take Lila some distance away to teach her the basics of combat, Helga was consistently bothering Arnold for pointers, pointers he was only too happy to give. Of course, he got those pointers not from his own experience, but from someone else with more experience than he, and it wasn't AJ.

Lila was beside herself. On the one hand, she was getting the training she so desperately wanted. On the other, she couldn't ever see herself taking the life of another creature, evil or not. The whole concept was completely alien to her and not one she cared to dwell on for long, so she didn't. When she would bring it up, she would be told by AJ that she'd have to learn to accept her own inner darkness, and that it did exist whether she believed it did or not. Sadly, this led to many more questions, each more confusing than the last with the worst and most confusing of them all being, what _was_ her innermost darkness.

"How much further?" Arnold asked. Helga and AJ had been leading the way for a while considering both of them had the only two flashlights. AJ kept walking but did turn his head to acknowledge Arnold.

"We're close enough," AJ replied. "We should be there in a few minutes."

"Hey, Army Brat," Helga began, "why exactly are we heading to this place anyway?" AJ gave her a curious glance.

"Are you sure you want me to answer, or will you immediately think I'm evil or something again?" AJ asked jokingly. Surprisingly, Lila giggled at this, despite it sounding incredibly forced, while the other two stared at him as if he were crazy.

"Why are you joking at a time like this?!" Helga shouted.

"He's coping," Lila spoke. "He's doing everything he can to remain sane, especially in a place like this, even if it means joking during the ever so bad times." AJ blinked and smiled sincerely at her, causing Lila to smile back even slightly. "I'll admit though, his humor is sometimes ever so dark."

"Kinda happens when you're stuck in a place like this," AJ muttered loudly enough for the others to hear. "It's hard to keep some lighthearted humor, especially when there's no light to speak of." Arnold turned to Lila.

"How'd you figure that out?" Arnold asked her.

"He told me," Lila responded. "Before we reached the—" Lila paused as her mind flashed images of the Lakeview Hotel before her eyes as the recent memories of that place resurfaced, causing her mood to instantly darken. Sadly, she'd been trying to forget those, but it seemed as if the town, or her mind, wouldn't let her. "Before we reached the hotel," she repeated, "he made a joke after Pyramid Head killed a group of cultists. I asked him the same question Helga did and he told me what I just told you." Arnold said nothing as he let that information sink in. Oh how he _hated _it when that boy had a point, even if Arnold said he'd ignore that hatred and work with AJ to escape.

"That depends," Helga said with a strangely joking mannerism, "on whether or not you'll make our deaths quick. Last thing I need is to be a head where all I can do is make a face at the Order cultists. Guess I could always work on them while I can think of the good ones. Hell, if you can keep my head alive, I'll use that time to make a bunch of faces just to piss off the cultists." Arnold's jaw nearly dropped. That was dangerously macabre humor for Helga. So much so that it was quite disturbing, as a matter of fact. What made it worse was the smirk on Helga's face, almost as if that macabre humor had actually brightened her mood a bit.

"That's the spirit, hopefully we won't become some anytime soon," AJ joked back before he turned serious. "As for what you asked, the Green Lion Antiques was basically where Alessa's mother, Dahlia Gillespie, ran The Order. It was a small shop of sorts, I guess. Never went inside there myself but I've seen it enough to recognize it. In any case, since Dahlia led the sect of The Order that runs rampant in this place, she basically made that little shop the base of operations. If I'm right, that's where most of the plans were made."

"And if you're wrong?" Arnold queried.

"Let's just say I pray to whatever god actually exists that what you just asked isn't the case. I've seen most of the cult's hideouts in my time here, either by accident or on purpose, but I've never seen any place that could have been the main base. I shudder to think of where they planned everything if not in this one."

"Why do you say that?" Lila asked.

"Dahlia was, by far, one of the biggest zealots I've ever seen, and I've had the misfortune of meeting her once," AJ continued. "With how strongly she believed in her 'religion', I can only imagine how many _artifacts_ she had there." No one missed the emphasis placed on the word 'artifacts'.

"And by artifacts you mean—?" Helga began for clarification.

"Anything," AJ replied. "That could mean anything from random objects to things that might've been used to—" he paused briefly, "—_convert_ nonbelievers."

"Torture devices, you mean?" Arnold asked. AJ merely nodded.

"Some of them I've probably even seen before they were carted off to be used on some poor soul." AJ shook his head as it dropped in such a way that some of his hair actually blocked his eyes from view. He froze in his place and his hands slowly rose to hold onto his head before he continued. "And their screams. _Their goddamned screams!_" AJ's declaration had a bigger effect than he'd hoped. Everyone had stopped and were now staring at him in a mixture of worry, shock, abject confusion, and, strangely enough, sorrow. AJ, upon lifting his head, noticed the looks he was getting and turned his head away from everyone as a sorrowful smile formed on his lips. "I've said far too much, it seems. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"You really were a victim of The Order, weren't you?" Lila questioned. AJ said nothing in response. Lila shuddered a moment before moving toward the boy and wrapping her arms around him. Sometimes silence was all the answer one needed. Lila's question conveyed whatever doubt she or the others may have had regarding their fourth companion, and he'd ended most of them without saying a single word.

"AJ," Arnold called out to him. AJ turned to face the other boy in time to see Arnold shake his head once. "Once we're done with this place we're taking a break and, during that time, you _will_ tell us about this." AJ's eyes narrowed.

"And what makes you think that I'll talk about this?" AJ questioned. Arnold smirked.

"Simple," Arnold replied. "You need us to believe you're sane in some sense and keeping a secret that created this outburst wouldn't be doing that. Not only that but doing this is a good way to get rid of some of the guilt you might be feeling. Also, you told us that we have to accept our darkness as a part of ourselves to have a hope of escape. With that in mind, why you haven't escaped suddenly makes a hell of a lot more sense." Helga and Lila turned to Arnold expectantly, wanting to know what he thought about that. He did bring up an interesting point. If accepting your inner darkness set you free, why wasn't AJ free yet? "There's still a darkness inside you that you haven't accepted, probably having to do with what The Order did to you, and that keeps you tethered to Silent Hill." AJ blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to speak before he promptly shut it again. When he did finally speak, his voice conveyed his clear surprise.

"God _damn_," AJ said before he let out a chuckle. "I underestimated you, Arnold." Arnold's confident smirk could've put anyone to shame. "Sorry about that, but yeah. There are parts that I haven't accepted."

"If you talk about it," Lila began, "it might be easier to accept." AJ nodded.

"Fine, but after we get the next key. We're close anyway, so it'd be pointless to stop now. T'would be even better if we got out of the Otherworld, but I doubt we'll be that lucky," AJ commented. He glanced around briefly before smiling. "We're here." The three students turned their heads and saw the building AJ'd been looking at. Sure enough, on the front of the building was the sign 'Green Lion Antiques'. AJ approached the doorknob and tried to jiggle it, if only to see if it was locked or not. To his evident surprise, the door opened without a hitch, allowing them entrance into the store.

'It opened,' Arnold noted, 'which might mean someone's here.' He tried to look in front of his militaristic comrade but found only darkness. Even the flashlights that Helga and AJ carried weren't revealing much. "You think someone's here?" Arnold asked.

"I don't know," AJ replied. "But it's certainly possible. I can scout ahead while you three look for anything of importance. If I come under attack, you three retreat as quickly as you can and I'll catch up as soon as possible. Sound okay?" Arnold sighed.

"It wouldn't be smart to go alone, especially if this was The Order's base of operations," Arnold pointed out. "But then again, I don't know if we're ready to face the cultists yet, especially since they're actually thinking people." AJ nodded.

"Just be careful," Lila said. Saying no more, AJ stepped into the store with the three others following behind him. The insides were clear proof that this wasn't just an antique shop. The walls, like so many others in Silent Hill's Otherworld, were colored in the same shade of dried blood and entrails. There didn't seem to be a ceiling, or if there was, it couldn't be seen in the inky blackness that resided above them. Despite the darkness above them, the remainder of the room was strangely illuminated by a hellish red glow that was completely invisible from outside the shop.

In the wall opposite the entrance, there was a small crawlspace, probably just big enough for someone to squeeze through, leading into some unknown area of the shop. In the room they were in, a large number of strange items littered the area. Some were chairs, others lamps and vases or some kind of antiquity, and yet some looked as if they belonged in a museum for strange and unusual torture implements. The only one the four could readily identify was a closed casket that looked like the outside of an iron maiden which rested in the far right corner of the room. Others included a chair with spikes and straps and a table with cuffs to hold the hands and feet with some kind of strange slot for a blade or something of the like. Still others were just strange and seemed impractical, but only because the four knew not how they worked.

AJ wasted no time and made for the crawlspace. After giving a short look into the crawlspace and finding nothing, he repositioned himself as lowly as he could get to the ground and went through it. For a short moment, no one else made a move. They waited for some kind of confirmation that he was either okay or under attack. In the latter case, the three were sure to flee, if only because that's what they agreed upon. After a moment, their reply came.

"It's all clear," AJ called from the other side of the crawlspace. "Start looking, I'm going on."

"Hold on!" Lila shouted. "I'm coming too!"

"WHAT!?" Came the incredulous reply from the other side of the crawlspace. Lila crouched to get to the opening near the floor.

"If the key is somewhere like it was in the school, you'll need me to get it since if you do it you might get hurt again! At least if it's there, we won't waste time when you have to come back to get me and bring me there. If it's not, at least we made sure our time wasn't wasted," Lila explained. There was nothing but silence on the other end for some time.

"Alright," AJ reluctantly said. "Hurry up, we don't have time to spare." Lila nodded, not that AJ could've seen her, and began to crawl through the space and reached the other side. "I've got her! You guys do what you've gotta do. We'll be back ASAP!" As the sound of their footsteps began to fade, one more statement reached their ears before it completely faded away. "If I tell you to run, you run, no..." The message was clear enough.

Arnold and Helga immediately set out to find whatever it was that they could've been looking for. A hole, a mark, or some kind of entrance that could've given them some clue as to where the key was. Was it even there? The duo shuddered to consider the possibility if it wasn't. If this spot was The Order's base of operations, the cultists would no doubt be returning eventually and Arnold and Helga did _not_ want to be there if and when they did return.

No matter how much the two looked, nothing they went near seemed to be revealing much. Regardless of that fact, while looking, Arnold's attention was, for some reason unknown to him, being drawn to the closed iron maiden in the corner of the room. As he approached, Arnold couldn't shake the strange feeling of dread that enveloped his entire being.

(Location: With Lila and AJ)

Lila remained mostly silent while AJ led her through the secret passageway that existed behind the shop. It was strange enough that the crawlspace led them them to a room where the only way to go was down, but now the two found themselves walking through a strange tunnel system, not unlike the ones in the other Order hideouts, in an attempt to find one of the keys that would set her father free. Lila looked around as much as she could but, for the life of her, couldn't shake the constant feeling of unease as the passageway seemed to change from a manmade tunnel to some kind of monstrous intestines. Slime and liquid dripped from the ceiling and even the walls themselves began to pulse and churn almost as if it were something's digestive tract.

Like usual, AJ showed no fear in this nightmarish place, something that Lila found, for some strange reason, reassuring. In truth, Lila didn't know why Arnold was so perturbed by that. The very idea that AJ wasn't afraid was a good thing, wasn't it? It had to be, since he'd always remained calm enough to make a good decision. The only time he showed any real fear was when Pyramid Head was around, and Lila didn't blame him for that one bit. She too was scared witless by the monstrous creature and didn't think she could remain calm when it was around. If Lila was sure of one thing and one thing only, it was that AJ's bravery gave her the courage she needed to continue on with little fear of the future. She didn't know exactly why this was but, in a place like Silent Hill, she wasn't about to question it.

AJ suddenly stopped and glanced around. Lila noticed that he shuddered violently, as if a terrifyingly cold chill just rushed up his spine. Lila moved to him and placed a hand on his back, trying in some way to be reassuring.

"Are you alright?" Lila timidly asked.

"Yeah," AJ replied. "I don't know why, but I just got a really bad feeling just now, almost like someone walked over my grave." AJ turned to face Lila in time to see her turning pale. "Sorry for the expression." He turned away. "Doesn't mean I don't have a bad feeling though." Lila nodded as the two continued onward, walking deeping through the tunnels where, hopefully, there'd be one of the keys needed to free her father.

(Location: With Arnold and Helga)

Arnold opened the iron maiden cautiously, if only to make sure something didn't suddenly pull him in while the torture device slammed shut. To his surprise, not only was there no monster within, but most of the spikes that would normally be inside an iron maiden had been removed and, in place of the spikes, a dresser was placed neatly inside the device, untouched by time. The loud creak of the iron maiden as Arnold opened it drew Helga's attention there too. The two got a better look at the object with the extra help of Helga's flashlight. The dresser appeared to be made of a sturdy wood, maybe oak or mahogany, not that either of the two could tell the difference, and had three drawers from top to bottom. The top drawer, unlike the other two, had a golden lock placed on the outside, no doubt signifying they'd need a key to get it open.

Arnold opened the bottom drawer first as it seemed going from bottom to top might be the best option. Inside the drawer, aside from dust and a few cob webs which destroyed the image of the dresser being untouched by time, he found a first aid kit to replace the one he had to use in the school after AJ'd been attacked and another health drink. Welcome additions to their supply line, that much was certain. He closed the bottom drawer and opened the middle one. Inside was a massive amount of papers, many with different dates on them. As Arnold and Helga looked through them, two things were certain. Judging by the name on the bottom, each and every note there was written by Dahlia Gillespie and each note signified some kind of obscure mention of how to best serve their God. Other than that, there didn't seem to be anything of importance. Before they shut the drawer, Helga's flashlight revealed a gleam hidden underneath some of the notes. She dug through them and procured a key which had been hidden near the bottom.

Arnold shut the middle drawer and watched as Helga attempted to fit the key into the top lock. It fit perfectly and Helga, wasting no time, finished unlocking it and pulled it open. Inside the final drawer was a large file. That was it. No health drinks, no keys, no first aid kits, not even a weapon or marble ammunition for Helga. Arnold removed the file and carried it over to the other desk in the room. He let the file hit the desk with a loud slam before he opened it. For a while, he did nothing more than stare at the first file with a sense of dread, which read in bold and in all caps, '**GUARDIAN CANDIDATES, MAY GOD GUIDE US IN OUR ENDEAVOR**'.

(Location: With Lila and AJ)

The duo had reached the end of the tunnel to find nothing in the final area. At first glance it seemed to be nothing more than a large room, not unlike the rest of the tunnel. It was a room that looked like some beast's intestines with the walls pulsing and contracting while some kind of slime or something oozed from both the walls and the ceiling. At least, that's how it was until they looked up. Caught in the light of AJ's flashlight and giving off a shining gleam was a key suspended by a thick chain far too high for either of them to reach, and even less of a chance of breaking the chain to retrieve it. Lila took the other key from her pocket, the one that she'd retrieved in the school and looked at the two to compare. At a glance, they were exactly the same. They'd found it! One problem still presented itself; how were they supposed to get it down?

Lila looked around a second time to find anything she might've missed before and spied a lever in the wall in one of the corners of the room. Not knowing why or how she could've missed that before, Lila quickly hurried over and pulled the lever down— and almost instantly regretted it. The room began to shake and the contracting, intestine-like walls began to move faster, secreting more slime onto the floor as they did. The middle of the ground suddenly began to rise, nearly reaching the ceiling, before it opened, revealing it to be full of long, razor sharp, teeth and clamped down on the chain holding the key, snapping it without issue. From there, it opened up completely, the mouth like appendage forming a toothy circle with a few select openings while the key rested in the center. Three stone slabs raised from the ground, one at each wall aside from the entrance, and resided there. On each of the stone slabs, there appeared to be writing and some kind of writing along with a turning wheel with several words written upon them. Just above the turning wheel was an arrow that pointed down. What it meant, Lila wasn't sure. She glanced at the gaping maw that now took up a majority of the floor with unease. There was no way she could walk onto that thing without it snapping and devouring her whole.

"W-What do we do now?" Lila asked. AJ said nothing for a time, instead going to each of the stone slabs and looking them over carefully. He went to each methodically before he finally stopped and grabbed Lila, pulling her to the far side of the room, exactly the opposite of the entrance. Lila was confused until she noticed the static on his walkie-talkie spiked and saw another Jilt making its way, slowly into the room. It spotted them and let out a shriek before converging on their place. Lila stared at it, unblinking, and watched as the Jilt made its way to the center of the mouth-like appendage at the center before it snapped shut in less than a second, killing and devouring the creature within. The walkie-talkie's static level quickly dropped again to a dull roar just as the mouth opened again, revealing no trace of the Jilt it had eaten.

"Now I get it," AJ said. He turned Lila's attention to the stone slabs. "This is a puzzle for you to solve. This subject matter... I think I've forgotten everything about it, but I'm guessing you know. You have to solve each of these correctly, then walk into the mouth to retrieve the key. If even one of them is wrong, those jaws will snap shut and devour you. If I step in there, probably the same thing will happen to me. This one's all you, Lila." Lila shuddered as her eyes glanced back over to the gaping maw. Was there any chance of her doing this? She honestly didn't think she could, not with her life on the line. "I believe in you," AJ added. Lila turned to him and saw his smile, that confident smile that showed how much trust and faith he had in her. For whatever reason, it worked, and Lila turned back to the slab and read it.

_I have seen much in my time, but one thing keeps me strong, despite the pain that may be only mine, this helps me feel like I belong._ Lila's attention then turned to the arrow and the wheel before she realized the arrow pointed to what would be her answer. She quickly glanced at the four words adorning the wheel. _Sorrow, Friendship, Compassion, Love_. She thought of it briefly, wondering which of the four the answer could be. Almost immediately she cancelled out sorrow, as there was no way that could've been the answer, but the other three each had their merits. Compassion definitely seemed possible, but at the same time not. Anyone can give or fake compassion, but it only makes you feel better, not belong. Love, however, can make one feel that way and can erase a lot of pain, but love is selective, and very unlikely to include more than one person outside of familial relations. Then again, what was the state of belonging? Belonging to what? Family? Society? Needless to say it was a very vague riddle. Lila looked at the other slabs and turned to her companion again.

"Can two answers be the same?" Lila asked. AJ pondered this for a moment.

"If I'm going by what I've seen, no," AJ answered. "I've never seen a puzzle like this where two or more of the answers were the same, otherwise they'd be too easy. Sometimes though, the puzzle isn't just about common knowledge, but about personal things, things that only certain people know. They're rare but they exist." Lila nodded and moved toward one of the other slabs, this time the one on the right of the room as it was with her staring at the only entrance. Just like before, she read the inscription on the stone slab. _Among the stars in the sky, One thing remains true, There are many people that pass me by, But only one of you. _Lila looked down at the arrow and the wheel. This time the arrow was on the left side of the wheel. She took a long, hard look at the wheel and read the four words upon it. _Friend, Aunt, Teacher, Mother._ Lila didn't have to think twice on this one. She figured at least one of the riddles had to be easy. Without hesitating, Lila turned the wheel so that the arrow pointed to the word 'Mother'. She stopped as soon as she heard the wheel click into place.

Turning to the only slab she hadn't been to, Lila walked around the gaping maw to the slab on the opposite side of the room. Similar to the slab before, the arrow was now on the right of the wheel. Before she looked at the wheel, she read the inscription. _Many things can hold true, But none like this are so sweet, The only thing that matters to me and to you, The one that makes me complete._ Lila read the inscription over one more time before looking down at the four on the wheel. _Friendship, Love, Motherhood, Family_. Drat, another somewhat vague one. This was another value riddle, as what would be most important to someone. Lila shook her head. There was any possibility to this answer, as everyone had different values. Some valued friendship more than anything else, others motherhood, family or love. It seemed an impossible choice but only one of them were right. The question was which of them was the right one?

'Sometimes the puzzle isn't about common knowledge, but personal things only certain people know,' Lila thought. She shut her eyes and thought more about what that meant. 'It seems ever so broad to be a question about common knowledge so if only certain people could know this kind of thing, who is the person that knows? If AJ can't solve this, that means it's not something he knows, which could mean,' Lila paused in her thought as what she thought was realization struck her, 'it's something only I would know. It's what the answers are to me.' She looked over the inscription again. 'Can it be that simple? The one thing that makes me complete, is...' Lila grabbed the wheel and turned it until the arrow pointed to a particular word, 'Love. Family isn't really family without love, and the love my daddy and I have makes us a real family. If we didn't have that, family wouldn't mean anything.' Lila quickly scampered back the first slab she'd read and went over the inscription again. Suddenly it was much easier. 'What makes me feel like I belong.' She turned the wheel, getting a click as she reached the word 'friendship'. 'What I wanted in the first place was to belong, so I wanted to make a lot of friends.'

Lila turned to AJ who'd been watching her the entire time. For a moment, she said nothing as she looked at him, only smiled and gave him a brief nod before she took her first, long, step into the mouth. One step in, nothing happened. So far so good. Two steps in, still nothing. Three and four, still safe. With each step Lila felt more and more dread take hold of her, as each step could very well have been bringing her closer to her doom. She turned again, if only to get some more reassurance from her companion. From what she saw, he mouthed the words 'I believe in you' again. She turned again and continued. Five and six steps in, no movement from the mouth. Five more steps to go. Seven, eight and nine, the mouth moved just slightly, making Lila freeze up as she waiting for the maw to shut and kill her. It didn't come. Instead, the mouth moved but only in such a way that it appeared to be breathing ever so lightly. Lila raced the remaining steps in and was now directly in front of the key. Still no clasping, still no death. As soon as she grabbed the key, Lila determined, she'd race out of the mouth like the hounds of hell were on her heels.

Lila reached down ever so cautiously and, for a time, her hand hovered above the key that sat motionless in the center of the monstrous maw. She took several deep breaths as she readied herself for the inevitable burst of speed she felt she would need. Lila's breathing picked up in speed as her hand inched lower slowly. As soon as her fingers were around the key, she picked it up and darted out as quickly as her legs could carry her, her eyes shut in fright, stopping only when she collided with something— no, someone. Lila opened her eyes to find herself in the vest of her companion again. Glancing up, she noticed the proud smile on his face. With a motion of his head, he drew her attention to the center of the room. The mouth hadn't moved a single inch.

"Way to go," AJ commended her. Lila smiled but flinched when the ground began to shake. The murderous maw in the center of the room rose again, slowly shutting itself and retracting into the ground, leaving no trace that it was ever there. Once it had vanished, Lila placed the key into her pocket and the two began to make their way back to Arnold and Helga. Maybe they'd found something interesting.

(Location: With Arnold and Helga)

Arnold wasn't sure how long he spent staring at the front page in the file. It seemed too surreal that this kind of thing would actually exist. Then again, he was in Silent Hill and, if his previous experiences in this place were anything to go by, this town _existed_ for this shit. Stranger still was the notion that The Guardian had kept quiet throughout all of this. In fact, Arnold couldn't even feel that strange pressure in his head when The Guardian was talking to him, or even there in the first place. Was something else occupying his time? Arnold seriously hoped so.

After who knew how long, Arnold removed the first page and set it aside, only to pale at what he saw. It was a picture with a name of someone he didn't know. What bothered him, however, was the information they had on this person. Name, age, date of birth, height, weight, blood type, address, parentage, all of it was there. On the next page was apparently some kind of information on the child in question, including the date they were grabbed by The Order. As Arnold and Helga kept going through the files, one file they found stopped them dead in their tracks. The picture, the information, however much was there, everything, was of the fourth member of their group. Arnold and Helga paused and, in their curiosity, decided to read it.

_Candidate name: AJ —_, for some reason, his last name had been omitted, or crossed off, or something. They were mere smudges on the paper done by someone. The height and weight seemed accurate, but the rest of the basic information was gone. They turned to the second page and continued reading._ Date of acquisition: April 23rd, 1977. Details: Acquired through luck and deception. Candidate shows incredible promise for conversion and would, with little doubt, be an excellent guardian for God. Though he does not seem willing to convert, we will secure that given some time. Being an outsider, his conversion is paramount to our plans, provided of course one of the other candidates does not outperform him. Should a Guardian be properly chosen while he is still kept among us, we will either kill him if he hasn't converted or keep him as a member of our Order. Considering he is an outsider, his parents spent a great deal of time searching for him. We've permanently remedied the situation. Like him, it seems, they were unwilling to convert. No matter. The heretics can keep their beliefs in their new home, buried on the outskirts of town in some unmarked grave, no less than what such heretics deserve. Killing his parents might help some with the conversion, since we can lie and say they abandoned him to whatever fate may befall him. Either way, we have much to look forward to. Let us see just how much it'll take for him to break._

Arnold gulped audibly as he remembered the words of their fourth companion. It was clear that he had no knowledge of his parents' demise and would, with no doubt, be trapped in Silent Hill forever should this news ever be given to him. The only matter now is what to do with it? What he and Helga found would no doubt be of interest to AJ when he returned. Arnold picked up the paper and stared at it while trying to figure out what to do.

"What've you got there?" AJ's voice came from behind the two, startling Arnold a great deal. As quickly as he could, Arnold folded up the paper and slid it into his right pants pocket as he turned to his left to face AJ and Lila. Arnold was lucky enough that AJ didn't catch the action. Arnold sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. Saying nothing, he moved away so the two could see the papers. Lila was surprised to see a picture of her companion there, especially since it had a bit of information on him, but whatever could it have been for?

"Papers," Arnold replied. "More specifically, information on everyone that The Order kidnapped," he paused a second, "with the intent to turn them into The Guardian." Lila froze after Arnold spoke. If that was true then...

"I can't believe they kept these here," AJ muttered, though it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Does this have to do with—?" Arnold began before AJ's small nod cut him off. He stood there, unmoving, staring at his picture on the paper. Lila, Helga, and Arnold approached him and tried to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. It wasn't to last. The strange sensation in Arnold's stomach kicked in just as the four heard a siren blare.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter.<br>**

**Rendan and Zero: *staring at me***

**Me: What?**

**Rendan: Dude, what the—**

**Zero: FUCK!?**

**Me: What?**

**Rendan: Well, I guess there had to have been _something_ to explain what's been going on.**

**Zero: I guess.**

**Me: Anything more needing to be said?**

**Rendan: Nope.**

**Zero: I'm good.**

**Me: Sweet. Since there's nothing else... Be good and be safe, everyone. I'm outta here!**


	22. The Evil of The Order

**Me: Here's Chapter 22.**

**Rendan: After only a week?**

**Me: Like the situation last time, it's roughly the same thing. I just wanted to give chapter 21 a little bit of time.**

**Zero: Makes sense. So, we're continuing from where we left off?**

**Me: We?**

**Rendan: Well, we're reading this too, ya know.**

**Me: I tend to forget that.**

**Zero: What I don't get is how you manage to keep this shit secret from us, considering we all exist in your mind and have unlimited access there.**

**Me: I'm just that good I suppose.**

**Rendan: So this time we're going over the fourth member's story.**

**Me: A bit of it, yeah. According to him, his last bit of hidden darkness, one that even he couldn't accept.**

**Zero: Can't wait. Dibs, by the way! Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. Azard owns the core concept, the monsters and puzzles that he created, his OCs, and the monstrosity that he calls a plot when it's really a bunch of psychological torture of a bunch of innocent kids.**

**Me: Bullshit! I can justify this and have on several occasions!**

**Zero: -Ingoring Azard- Azard wishes that he owned Pyramid Head but he does not! PH, along with Silent Hill, belongs to Konami, no matter how much Azard wishes otherwise.**

**Me: What? Like you wouldn't want an immortal punisher to do your bidding?**

**Rendan: Case and point. Read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 22: The Evil of The Order<span>

When Arnold awoke after the siren's blare and the consciousness stealing effect of the white light, he found himself in a building, more specifically in a diner, the one that he and Helga were in earlier, and was placed carefully into one of the booths. He looked around for a moment, finding AJ sitting down contemplatively at the counter while Helga and Lila were also placed in different booths to give them room to lie down. As far as Arnold could tell, only AJ and he were awake.

"H-Hey," Arnold called out with some hesitance. It wasn't without reason either. The last thing he wanted to do was startle AJ, especially since right now his mind must be in clear turmoil, and startling him would end badly. AJ may have been good at hiding such things, but that didn't mean Arnold couldn't tell said boy was hiding them. AJ waved slightly, not even turning to acknowledge Arnold. Arnold stood up and took the seat next to him. "Just so you know, I don't blame you for hiding that kind of stuff." AJ turned his head just enough to look at Arnold out of the corner of his eyes. "I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to think these guys got a hold of me either, let alone to turn me into some kind of monster, which it's pretty clear you're not."

"What makes you so sure?" AJ asked.

"Monsters wouldn't care about anyone except for themselves, and they certainly wouldn't throw themselves in death's path to protect anyone for any reason," Arnold said. AJ shook his head.

"Some monsters are so frightening that they can hide their evil under the guise of care and compassion," AJ commented.

"And if you were a monster," Arnold continued, "you wouldn't give yourself away that easily, nor would you give us your strategy."

"Unless I was so secure in my belief that I'd fooled you that I knew you wouldn't believe the truth, even if I told you it," AJ stated. Arnold blinked owlishly.

"If that was the case, you wouldn't have knocked me out of Pyramid Head's path," Arnold said. "If your guise was under care and compassion, I highly doubt you'd do something like that, especially when the chance of you being killed was so high, even running the risk of putting your fate in our hands, when you _knew_ the one that could save you didn't trust you. A monster wouldn't take a gamble that risky." AJ turned to Arnold and chuckled.

"Some monsters would," AJ added, "if they were really stupid."

"Which you aren't."

"Tell me that after you hear my story."

"Fine, I will, but first we have to wait on the girls," Arnold agreed. AJ nodded. It took about ten minutes for the girls to stir from their slumber. Helga and Lila did little more than stare at the two boys at the counter before said boys realized the rest of their group was awake.

"Morning," AJ said. "Pick a booth and have a seat, I'll start then." The three students nodded and sat at the same booth, right next to the door, all of them sitting on the same side which faced the door. AJ stood and sat on the other side of the booth, his back turned toward the door. It was then that Arnold noticed that there was no static to speak of. Both the walkie-talkie and the radio were turned off. "Before I start, I'll ask you all if you have any questions for me, because if you interrupt me while I'm speaking, chances are I won't be able to continue because this is a very painful memory I'm dragging up. If I'm going to tell this, it has to be straight through in one go, no interruptions. Okay?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now, questions?"

"When did they grab you?" Helga asked. Sure, she saw it on the form but right now she needed to confirm if it really was true. With all the red tape in paperwork, information was sure to get mixed up. AJ took a small breath.

"April twenty-third," AJ replied. Lila's eyes widened as she remembered the notes she found in both the school and the police station.

"Does that mean that," Lila paused a moment as she tried to figure out how to best word the rest, "the papers we found in the police station were about—"

"Yes," AJ interrupted her. "Those were talking about me." Lila stifled a gasp and tried to hold back some tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Arnold and Helga's questioning glances were enough to prompt AJ to continue. "What she's referring to is how I was grabbed. I went to the police to ask them for help since a bunch of robed people were following me around everywhere, and yes, those robed people were members of The Order. What I didn't know was that the police themselves were also cultists. I stupidly walked straight to them."

"I wouldn't say that," Helga said. "We're taught to trust the police to help us when we're in trouble. You were doing just that, going to the police for help. You were betrayed by the people you were taught to trust. That's not stupidity on your part."

"It's more like bad luck," Arnold added. AJ sighed. "Like I said, you're not stupid." Helga and Lila glanced over to Arnold before he replied in turn with a shrug.

"I guess," AJ stated. "Any more questions?" He received a simultaneous shake from the other three. "Nothing more, eh? Fine. Just as a warning, you probably won't like what you'll hear. Do you think you can handle that?" He was looking more toward Lila than anyone else. Again, the three responded together with a nod. They were adamant about hearing this. "Fine." AJ took a deep breath, paused a moment, and began.

(Flashback. AJ is Narrating)

The bastards that grabbed me weren't exactly gentle. I slammed my head on what I think was a stair and blacked out. When I came to, I was in a cell in what I eventually learned was a secret hideout for The Order. I was chained to the wall by short chains that kept me bound by the cuffs they'd placed on my wrists. When I looked around, I saw that I wasn't the only one there. If I remember correctly, there were at least twenty more kids. All of us were locked in this one cell, kept bound to the wall however the cultists could muster. Some of the rowdier kids were eventually nailed to the wall, in a manner of speaking, being tethered directly to the wall to keep them from moving at all. One of the cultists was standing outside of the cell and told us that we were forbidden from any voluntary noise. What he meant was that if any of us let out so much as a peep, they'd kill us. Two kids learned this lesson the hard way.

They spoke up then in anger and were both shot in the head by the man in front of the bars to the cell. It scared the living hell out of us but we remained silent, if only to keep ourselves alive. Despite this, some of us still made small talk by teaching ourselves to read lips. We'd have silent conversations, telling each other not to give up hope and that we'd somehow find a way out, as futile as it was. Either way, I became something like friends with one of the other captives. He was chained right next to me in that cramped cell and I can't even remember his name. We shared as much as could be, and even shared a few silent laughs at the cultists' expense and that was just in the first day. Of course, that was before they brought— _those_ in.

A day after I was brought in, kept fed and quenched by cultists that would volunteer and force feed their prisoners, the cultists started to bring in— devices. I don't know what else to call them. Each of them was different, suited for a different purpose, but all meant to do the same thing. This wasn't just meant to torture us, this was a conversion. Listening to the cultists outside the cell talk revealed as much, since they'd talk about converting the heretics to their Order. Before I get ahead of myself, let me go back a bit. I think I passed out briefly that first night, since it seemed to be no more than a blink but, when I awoke, I found myself in the Fog World. I knew there was fog because everything was far more hazy than it used to be. They purposely instilled our first darkness in us, being taken from our families, to trap us in Silent Hill.

After they'd brought in all the devices they'd intended to use, two cultists came in and grabbed the kid on the farthest corner of the cell, luckily or unluckily the one opposite mine, since I was the last one brought in and was the last kid on my end. The kid they grabbed was a girl that couldn't have been much older than me or you guys. I don't really remember what she looked like, sadly enough. In the next few minutes, the silence that had held us all shattered forever.

The girl they grabbed screamed, loudly, in such a way that it utterly terrified us. Her screams conveyed her fear, her sorrow and her pain all at the same time. They ripped through us and killed us on the inside. Each shriek, each cry, hurt us just a bit more, knowing that we could do nothing to help her as the cultists undoubtably tormented and tortured the girl endlessly. They kept it up for the entire day and there wasn't a minute of peace until, what I assume was, nightfall, since the cultists told us to go to sleep. None of us slept that night, either way. The girl's screams were too fresh in our minds and haunted us. We could only pray the screams would stop. The next morning one of the cultists that had taken her away returned.

"The bitch is dead," he told the others, "grab us another one." When the cultists opened the door, the remainder of us tried to squirm and scramble as much as we could in the vain hopes of escape. Sadly, it never worked. Not once. The next kid they grabbed was a boy, probably in his early teens. A few minutes later, the screaming continued, exactly the same as before. I passed out from exhaustion shortly after, but the screams of those two haunted my every dream and, I would soon find out when I woke up, I wasn't the only one that was haunted.

After that, it was a strange mixture of some of us being awake while others passed out from exhaustion. Some of us even missed feeding time because of it and had to starve until the next meal if we could. In the time I was there I think one or two died of hunger or thirst. For the longest time, that's the way it was. Every morning the cultists would enter the cell and take someone, kicking and screaming, all the way to whatever horrible devices they had ready and the screaming would begin. It wouldn't stop, not once until night, when the rest of us were sure that the one they took was dead. No one seemed to be able to last more than a day of that torture.

After being there for a week, the cultists made a big show of carting out the tortured, dead, bodies of those they'd grabbed before, probably in an attempt to break us in quicker. We weren't spared anything. Every wound, every cut, scrape, broken and displaced bone was shown to us. They told us that this was our fate if we refused to convert. I think their fear tactic had the opposite effect. None of us were willing to convert. None of us. And none of us ever did. Every week they did that show, and whoever remained became just a bit more defiant. The cultists got frustrated and began to take two at a time, doubling the tortured screams and the bodies we saw at the end of that week. Still, no one lasted longer than a day, while the screams of the tortured haunted our every waking hour and our every dream.

I forgot how many times I cried for the ones that died. I regretted being unable to help any of them but I was at a loss for what I could do. No matter how much we prayed for a reprieve from the screams, none ever came. The screams never faded from either our ears or minds. Finally the day came when it was just me and my friend left in that cell. Everyone else was dead. The cultists even did the parade of the dead before they came in the cell again. I don't know why they didn't take me, but I wish they did. I wish things were the other way around and he'd been saved. No such luck.

The first day they took him the screams continued just like they always had, but it was different once night fell. They carried him back into the cell and chained him up again, all the same broken bones and cuts that the other dead bodies had, he even had some of his limbs bent backwards, but he wasn't dead. He'd passed out from the pain and could barely move. I was awake most of the night and heard some of the cultists talking to each other. They called his survival a 'miracle' and a 'sign that God favored him'. I think they were just fucking insane. Either way, when dawn came again, they took him back out just as he'd woken up and the screams continued, just like they always had.

It was like this for several days, several long days of continuous torture that I have no idea how he survived it all. The last night they tortured him, they wheeled him into the cell bound on a stretcher and, for the first time in my life, I was scared absolutely shitless. He was on the bed, completely awake, and his skin had been crudely peeled off. They skinned him alive and the worst part of it was that he was still alive! He couldn't even move without flinching in pain. The worst part of it all was, despite the pain he was in, for some reason, he tried to reach out to me and I tried the same, though I didn't get far. In that moment, we both cried and I could tell his tears hurt so badly but he couldn't stop. Sympathy, empathy, whatever the right one is, brought me to the brink of it. I felt so weak, so helpless, and I could only sit there and watch him slowly dying with his skin peeled off.

I eventually cried myself to sleep, believing that soon, the both of us would be nothing more than corpses. I wanted my mother and father more than ever in those moments, and cried for the help that would never come for me and the help that didn't come for any of the others. I think that's when and why I lost my faith... I can't even remember if I had any to begin with, but if I did, that's when I'd lost it. What kind of God could and would allow this to happen?

The next day I didn't see him at all and I was sure he was dead. What surprised me was that they didn't come for me. Even stranger, the cultists seemed to be celebrating. All I could think about was whether or not they'd broken him or he'd converted. Either way, I didn't hear a damn thing about him the entire day. I wouldn't hear about him until the next day. I woke up to the haze, just like every other day, but this was the day that I met The Guardian. About an hour after my consciousness returned, I heard a siren blaring in the distance. Seconds later the walls began to peel and the world around me changed into the hellish nightmare that was the Otherworld for the first time. I couldn't have done more than blinked but when I did, _he _stood in front of me.

He was little more than a figure that was obscured by the shadows around him, no taller than me and most likely no older. The shadows themselves seemed to move and bend around him. For the briefest of seconds, I looked at his eyes. They were the same color as the gut encrusted walls, the color of dried blood and entrails with the same texture before they too vanished into the shadows. He looked down at me, being that he was standing and I was on the floor, and raised a hand toward me. Barbed wire shot from the floor and went into the locks on my cuffs that freed me from my imprisonment. I couldn't move though, and I'll never know why I couldn't. He kept looking at me and briefly broke away to look outside the cell before turning back.

"You have a five minute head start," he told me. "Get going." I didn't need to be told twice. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could and ran. I ran as fast as I could, but I didn't know the way out. Every way I turned I just found myself in another torture chamber, probably one they were going to use on me eventually. My five minute head start was completely wasted because of how lost I was. I could hear the footsteps of the approaching Order cultists as I scrambled to hide somewhere, anywhere, that might've kept me safe. There was nowhere. I was quickly cornered by the cult when the shadowy figure in the cell appeared. He rose barbed wires from the floor and tore into each cultist before he tore them apart, limb by limb. He looked at me again, this time though he didn't say anything, and motioned with a hand as if he were telling me to follow him.

I don't know what I was thinking at the time but I listened. I followed him through the hideout as he murdered every last cultist we encountered one by one. Eventually though, his murder spree led the both of us out of the hideout and back into the town, though seeing the town in its Otherworldly state was no picnic. I turned to try and face him again but he'd already vanished completely and I wasn't about to stay in the same place there. I took off in a random direction and kept going until another siren took me out of the Otherworld and back into the Fog World. Since then, I've been moving about, trying to find a way out with no luck. You all basically have an idea of the story from there.

(Flashback and Narration ends)

Arnold, Helga and Lila stared at their companion with what could be called poorly masked shock. None of them could imagine or even try to comprehend the terror someone going through that would be feeling. There was a moment of silence that left the three clueless on what they could say. The three stared at the table for a moment, taking the time to consider what could be said, yet nothing came to their minds. When they raised their heads to look at AJ, however, they were struck with a crippling fear. They'd been so invested in the story that none of them noticed Pyramid Head had entered the diner and was standing behind AJ, his sword held in the air ready to strike. By the look on AJ's face, seeing as he was staring at the table, his head resting atop his hands, he didn't notice it either.

"So there you have it," AJ continued, still unaware of what could very well be his imminent doom. "The worst part about all of that was the guilt I felt after I'd escaped. Why me when no one else did? Even now I sometimes think I should be punished for not even trying." None of the others could even speak or move, for if they could, they'd have turned on either the radio or walkie-talkie to warn their fourth companion. Pyramid Head took this moment to raise his sword higher up into the air, ready to bring it down at a second's notice. "Now that I think about it though," the blade came down, "I shouldn't be punished," and stopped an inch from splitting the boy's skull open. Arnold and Helga stared on in shock while Lila had fainted from the close call. This was still too much for her to handle, it seemed. "I mean," AJ kept talking, still clueless to the fate he so narrowly avoided, "I was chained to the damned wall and if I made any noise I'd have been killed. Then none of us would've survived." AJ shook his head. "The most I can do at this point is keep on living, if only to keep their memories alive, even if I can barely remember them. Right?" He finally looked up, looking at the terrified duo and the passed out third. "Bad story, right?"

Helga nodded her head before she found she could move again. She gulped audibly and raised her hand to point just behind the boy sitting opposite to her, Arnold, and Lila. AJ gave her a confused glance before he turned his head briefly, looking back at her. Did he miss that?! Suddenly his face contorted into an expression of fear as he turned pale. He turned more slowly, this time staring at the monstrous Pyramid Head that was still standing behind him, still holding that massive blade, and still poised to end his life.

Pyramid Head moved the blade again, this time slamming it into the ground as he reached out and grabbed AJ by the vest and hoisted him into the air effortlessly. Arnold and Helga scrambled out of the booth and readied themselves to fight, to at least try to get the immortal of Silent Hill to drop AJ so they could all flee. To their surprise though, the color of AJ's face returned and he held out a hand to stop them.

'What the hell is he thinking?!' Helga shouted at her mind.

_"I knew he was remorseful but not suicidal,"_ The Guardian said inside Arnold's mind. _"Either way, this'll be interesting." _Nothing happened for a moment. Pyramid Head stared at the no longer scared boy in his grip and said boy stared back. Unbeknownst to them, Lila had just stirred from her slumber and had been watching.

"I think this is it," AJ said as he stared at Pyramid Head's helmet. "I no longer have to fear you, since my guilt has been vanquished. My belief that I deserved punishment is no more. Now, everything is up to you." Arnold, Lila, and Helga stared, bug eyed, at the scene before them. He was seriously talking to Pyramid Head, seriously! Lila watched on in wonder, a familiar moment to this playing in her mind. "So, oh great punisher of Silent Hill, what is your will?" Pyramid Head obviously said nothing but held onto the boy for another minute, a minute which felt like an eternity to everyone else watching. Pyramid Head looked around and placed the boy in his grip on the floor before retrieving his blade and walking out.

"Holy... shit," Helga gawked. AJ dusted himself off and turned to the others with a nervous smile on his face.

"So... where to next?" He asked.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter. -There is a long silence.- What?<strong>

**Rendan: Okay, Azard, that was some seriously fucked up shit. I mean yeah, I'm sure someone out there's written worse, but _Kami dammit_ man!**

**Zero: Sick, twisted, and completely awesome at the same time.**

**Me: You're only saying that because Pyramid Head showed up again.**

**Zero: Any time Pyramid Head showed up it's been epic. Even in those shitty movies. At least Pyramid Head was still awesome.**

**Me: Okay, I'll give you that. The movies sucked but Pyramid Head was probably the only good thing about them.**

**Rendan: Anyway, what's next?**

**Me: I don't know just yet. I'll have to see where inspiration takes me. From the concrete walls of prison. I'd assume that's where I'm taking them next... maybe after I do a couple other things. -Evil laugh-**

**Rendan: Why do I hate the fact that you're laughing evilly?**

**Zero: Because it usually ends up with some pretty fucked up stuff on the way?**

**Rendan: Oh yeah.**

**Me: Anyway, I think that'll do it for this time. Be good and be safe. We're outta here!**


	23. Crying and Mirrors

**Me: Finally done with Chapter 23.**

**Zero: It's about damn time.**

**Me: Yeah, well, I had a bit of a sadistic streak yesterday and this just came pouring out.**

**Rendan: Sounds fun. Wondering what you did though.**

**Me: *Evil smile* You'll have to wait and see.**

***Rendan and Zero look at each other and stare at me***

**Rendan: You didn't... do anything too bad did you?**

**Me: It's Silent Hill. That alone gives me all the permission I need to do whatever I want.**

**Zero: Knew that was coming.**

**Rendan: Yeah. I'll handle the disclaimer this time. Azard doesn't own either Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are the properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. Azard owns his OCs, the monsters he's created, those sick, twisted, demented creatures, the core concept of this crossover, the puzzles he's made, and the monstrosity that he calls a plot.**

**Me: At least you didn't call me insane like Zero did.**

**Zero: HEY!**

**Rendan: I don't have to state the obvious.**

**Me: True. Anyway, read and enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 23: Crying and Mirrors<span>

The silence between the four kids was deafening. Even after so long of being there, in Silent Hill, escaping death still had such a profound effect that could silence them without much issue. While Arnold and Lila remained quiet, most likely attempting in full desperation to come to terms with what just happened, Helga found herself being a little more vocal.

"Okay, seriously, we have _got _to stop pulling shit like this!" Helga shouted, completely ignoring her significantly maturing language. Not surprisingly, no one, not even the one who had just, yet again, barely escaped death, immediately responded. "We can't keep doing this or we'll all die from heart attacks! This place is crazy enough without one of you doing something unbelievably stupid!" Helga didn't stop just yet as she pointed to Arnold. "You need to get better at fighting, pronto. It's bad enough that only one person in this group is a competent fighter but we're going to need all the fighters we can get." Then to Lila. "You need to get a grip and realize that doing nothing isn't helping anyone! Pick up that butter knife of yours and stab a monster with it for crying out loud! Do _something_! You can't hide from these things forever!" Finally to AJ. "And _you_. You are, without a doubt, the most utterly bat shit insane person I've ever met, and coming from the family I do, with the life I lead, that's _saying _something."

"It's not like I had much choice," AJ muttered. "Either he was going to kill me or he wasn't. Attacking him would've turned him on you. Better to just let me die while you survive."

"But he didn't," Helga continued. "That's the point. We've all cheated death here once or twice but none of us more so than _you_. You literally _came back from the dead_ and proceeded to act like nothing happened. It's as if you don't even remember being killed! And don't start that bullshit saying you weren't. Arnold and I _saw_ your body, but I'm willing to overlook that, all of that, if you just _stop_ being _stupid_! You know as well as we do where we need to go next, so just shut up, pick a place, and let's go!" The other three shared a look before Arnold found his voice.

"We've got the school and The Order," Arnold noted. "Which means now we need to get to a church, the prison, and finally back to the Lakeview Hotel. I'd suggest we go to the prison. The next key is there, as well as the next note on the Path of Victims."

"That's the second time you've mentioned The Path of Victims. What the hell is that?" AJ asked.

"Oh, right, we didn't tell you about that," Arnold remembered. "Well, apparently the Guardian's decided to have some fun with us and is sharing some of the history of Silent Hill with me. For what reason, I'm not fully sure. The first note suggested it was to show me how some of the past victims escaped or became damned."

"Considering I know of only one that escaped, it might be a cautionary thing," AJ added. "The one thing that doesn't make sense is why the Guardian would be giving you such information."

"He saved you too," Helga pointed out, "how's that for making sense?" AJ shook his head. "So I thought, there is none. Any plans on getting into the prison?"

"We need to get a key," AJ said. "That place has been locked down tight for a while, but I haven't been able to locate the key."

"Was there some kind of poem or whatever that might give us a hint?" Arnold asked. AJ shook his head again. "Great, so now we're up the creek without a paddle." Arnold paced back and forth for a while, trying to figure out some sort of course of action. "We'll go to the prison and see if there's anything there that could help us. Maybe we'll find something this time around."

"I'm sure stranger things have happened in this place," Helga muttered and, with that, the four packed their stuff, turned on their radios, and set off for the prison. Thankfully, the walk there, though long, was uneventful. Still, the deafening silence broken only by the dull roar of static on the radios wasn't much of a comfort. The prison, as expected, was massive. A tall concrete building meant to keep away the most dangerous members of society. Helga doubted anyone could escape from such a place.

"Okay, split up and take a look around," Arnold said. "If you find anything, yell for the others." The four agreed and separated, though Lila of course stuck with AJ for protection and to possibly learn to use the knife a bit better. Arnold looked around the front door while Helga walked around the prison and tried looking around the back. AJ and Lila handled the sides.

Helga looked at the door of the prison and suppressed a shudder. The door itself was caked with dried blood that seemed to have been stuck there for ages. Helga reached out and gently grazed the doorknob for a moment before attempting to turn it. Nothing. Just the sound of a lock clicking. Helga sighed and turned around. She took a step forward. As soon as her foot hit the ground, the earth beneath her crumbled to reveal a hole of indeterminate depth. Helga reached out and managed to grab a hold of the edge but, seeing as the edge was little more than dirt, her grip was slowly failing as the ground continued to crumble.

"Arnold! Lila! Somebody!" Helga shouted as loudly as her lungs could manage. To her relief Arnold was the first to arrive and he immediately grabbed onto her forearms to try and pull her up. His attempts were in vain. As hard as he pulled he couldn't find the strength to pull her up. Arnold was not a weak boy by any means, but it seemed as if the hole was drawing Helga into it and, if his weakening footing was anything to go by, he too would be dragged in soon. Arnold did get a little help, though, as AJ and Lila suddenly appeared behind him and wrapped their arms around his waist and chest to help him pull and keep him from falling in. Alas, it was no use. Arnold's grip faltered and, with his grip failing, he was forced to watch as Helga fell into the inky black abyss below them.

Helga finally hit the floor, not with a thud, but with a surprising squish. She'd landed on something soft that had broken her fall. Lucky, she thought, until she realized just what she landed on. Using her flashlight she took a look at the soft item she landed on only to realize that she landed on a pile of dead bodies. Judging by how they looked, all of them being garbed in black robes, they were all members of The Order and they seemed to be freshly killed. The Guardian might've been busy lately. Helga gulped, realizing what that possibly meant. He was somewhere nearby. Turning off her flashlight and hugging the shadows, Helga made her way deeper into the blackened tunnel.

Helga didn't even have the dull roar of static to keep the silence away. The radio itself seemed to have shut itself off, or it had died from prolonged use. She couldn't tell which in a place like this. She was afraid to turn the light on if only for the reason of suddenly coming face to face with a demented monster that was waiting to kill her. Helga found herself becoming increasingly paranoid. Was there a monster nearby? Was it hunting her? Could they find her by her scent? Worse yet, could they smell fear? Helga shuddered violently as that thought hit her. She was afraid and, worse yet, she didn't have the comfort of knowing Arnold was there with her. She didn't need him to be brave, she never really did, but in a place like this, having a constant reminder that the situation isn't hopeless was always welcome. Now, there was nothing.

Summoning what little bravery she had left, Helga switched on the flashlight that was still pinned to her dress. To her immense relief, there wasn't a monster immediately within range waiting to kill her. However, something did catch her eye. There was another light shining from some distance away. Was it another survivor? Possibly. As Helga approached the light, she was surprised to see that the light was being reflected off of a mirror. Helga looked into the mirror and saw herself, at least, it was her at one point.

The Helga reflected in the mirror was not the girl she was now, but the girl she was back in preschool, holding the flashlight in her tiny hands and looking up at her older self in wonder, at the girl she'd eventually become. The preschool Helga smiled up at her older self, and Helga smiled back. Then, the image in the mirror changed. The preschool Helga vanished, being replaced with how Helga looked at exactly this moment in time. The reflection gave Helga a cocky smile and a thumbs up. Helga found herself smiling back with her teeth showing, something that the reflection mimicked. When Helga stopped smiling, though, the reflection continued with that big, toothy smile.

Confused, Helga backed up a little to get a better look. It was then she realized that something was happening to her reflection. A strange feeling began to well up in the pit of her stomach, which made her look toward the bottom of the reflection. It started from the bottom. Small changes like her shoes changing color first caught her eye. Then it seemed as though parts of the Otherworld were creeping up her legs and under her shirt. Helga suppressed a quiver as the reflection continued smiling. The Otherworldly infection seemed to start on her hands, beginning at her fingertips before it consumed her hand and branched out upward to her arms. The infection did not stop there, however, and continued onward until her entire neck looked to have been corrupted by the Otherworld. Now only her reflection's face was untouched. Helga didn't know what possessed her but part of her reached up to touch her neck, as if checking whether or not that disgusting, crusty skin was really there. It wasn't, but that didn't make her reflection's smile any less disturbing. In all this, Helga completely missed the static on the radio turning on.

The next thing that changed about the reflection was its smile. Her white teeth suddenly began to rot and decay but in such a way that the teeth seemed to become pointed, best suited on a meat-eating monster. The reflection's eyes changed next. Helga watched on, horrified, when the Otherworldly infection seemed to come out from the corner of her reflection's eyes, slowly engulfing the entirety of her eye until it reached the pupil and covered it. The reflection opened its mouth and let out what sounded like a snarl as its stance shifted from standing to one that appeared ready to attack while the infection started to cover the reflection's face. Helga shrieked and turned around, expecting to find the source for the monstrosity in the mirror. Nothing. Nothing but darkness lied in front of her. Without her noticing, again, the static on the radio vanished.

Helga turned back to the mirror only to see her reflection there, devoid of any Otherworldly infection, looking and behaving exactly as she did. Exactly what a reflection should do. Helga didn't stay long. Before the mirror could act up again, though Helga was unsure if it would but didn't want to hang around long enough to find out, Helga ran off further into the dark tunnel while not once turning to look back. She didn't stop running until she unwittingly crashed into steel bars. Steel bars? What were they doing here? Helga backed up again and realized that the tunnel had split into two separate paths. In front of her was a large room carved from the earth and, in front of the hole, was a set of steel bars, like a prison cell.

Had she stumbled into some kind of hidden prison? Possibly. It seemed like the kind of place that The Order would use to keep prisoners... prisoners that they might be trying to convert. Helga picked the flashlight from her shirt and held it in front of her, trying to get a better look at what might be inside. At the far wall were at least thirty sets of shackles, meant to keep someone tethered to the wall. Helga didn't bother to try and figure out where she was. She clipped the flashlight to her shirt again and shuddered. It was a strange feeling that she felt, almost like the one she felt in front of the mirror. She tried to think back to what it was like but only felt that nauseous feeling in her stomach. Granted, it wasn't bad enough to make her retch, but it was not something she could ignore. Helga shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the sensation but found that she couldn't. At that moment, something arrived that broke the silence.

Crying. Someone was crying. A girl, if the higher pitch was anything to go by. Something about that cry really bothered Helga, though. It was bad enough when there is a little girl or something of the like crying, but when Helga could swear she could _recognize_ the cry, that she should _know_ it but she just couldn't remember where, it really aggrivated her. Helga followed the sound of the cry, which bade her to turn left at the split in the path. As she continued walking the static on the radio began to pick up. This time it was completely impossible to miss. Helga picked up her slingshot and readied a marble for when she'd need to use it. She continued on only to be stopped by a dead end. Still, she could still hear the crying, and it was coming from her left. To her left was another cell, seemingly of the same length the first one was.

Turning to face it, Helga was treated to the sight of a shadowy figure lying down on its side in the cell. Its back was turned toward Helga as the crying continued. It was a short time later when Helga realized why the cry was so familiar to her. That cry sounded just like her older sister's. It sounded like Olga. Could her sister really be down here? Lila's dad and Arnold's cousin already were trapped in this hellhole so it was a possibility. That possibility scared the hell out of Helga.

"Olga?" Helga asked aloud but got no response from the figure. "Olga, is that you? It's me, Helga!" Again she received no response from the crying figure. Of course, the fact that the radio was still going off didn't help matters. "Damn it, Olga! Answer me!" No response. "Criminy! Fine! Stay in that cell for all I care. I'm trying to help and you just...!" Helga let out a loud groan in her aggravation to end her statement. As Helga walked away, she stopped dead in her tracks. Was she really about to leave what might have been her sister back there, still crying? Helga was about to turn around again when that feeling in her gut and the radio's static got worse. Over that, Helga heard the sound of a cell door sliding open behind her.

Helga stopped standing and raced forward as quickly as her legs could carry her. When she finally stopped running, about the time the sound of the radio's static and that uncomfortable feeling in her stomach disappeared, Helga realized she'd run so deep into the tunnels that the earthen floor had changed to concrete about halfway down and she found many more rooms that seemed to be closed off by metal doors. Curious, Helga opened one of the doors and peered inside the room. Helga paled. The room was almost exactly like the room she'd woken up in when the Order grabbed her the first time. The one major difference was that instead of there being a table in the room there was a strange device that looked akin to a chair with spikes on it. The chair and the spikes were covered in dried blood. What monster would use that on someone?

Still, she figured she could at least search through the room and came back out with another health drink to show for it. Not exactly a waste of time. She spied the second door across the path and went to that one too. Another room, another strange torture device, but nothing more. Helga departed the room and found herself wandering through the hall for who knew how long, stopping at each room to check it for supplies or anything that might help. Instead of finding anything substantial, however, all Helga managed to find was a different torture device for each room, all of them either bloodied or caked in the life-giving fluid.

Helga'd long since lost track of time with how much searching she was doing. She'd reached a room at the end of one hallway, where the paths once again split into two, and checked inside it. Inside was another mirror. Helga walked up to the mirror and flinched at what she saw. It was herself, of that she was perfectly certain, but that evil smile on her face was beyond unsettling.

That uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach returned full force as Helga doubled over from the sensation, once more being unable to hear the rising static of the radio. When she looked up again, the reflection had changed yet again. Helga's reflection was now covered in blood, that same evil smile on her face. In the reflection's right hand was a knife, bloodied from recent use, and in her left was Olga's severed head, being held up by her blond hair. The expression of the severed head said it all. Shock, fear, confusion, begging, hopelessness. Helga recoiled. Never in a million years would she ever dream of doing such a thing to her sister! Olga may not have been Helga's favorite person, but Helga would never kill her! There was no reason to even _consider_ doing something like that! Helga shuddered as the reflection moved. The reflection lifted the knife to her lips and licked some of the blood off it. Such an action almost forced Helga to empty the contents of her stomach, whatever was still in it.

Helga stepped back just as her reflection shot out an arm at her with the knife pointed forward. Thankfully, Helga had backed up enough to not be harmed by her... own reflection?! Helga took a good look at the arm that protruded from the mirror. It wasn't even human. The arm was thin, incredibly lanky, and colored the shade of dried blood, much like the other monsters. Helga realized she was dealing with a whole new kind of monster, one she'd never seen before. Helga looked around and picked up the nearest heavy object. With a loud grunt she hurled the object at the mirror, easily shattering the glass. The strange feeling in her stomach, along with the radio's static, once more subsided.

Helga turned and walked out of the room, feeling confident that she had destroyed whatever creature lied dormant within the mirror. Looking down both paths she had yet to take, Helga settled for going left. In the next room she checked was another mirror. Helga didn't want to go anywhere near it but there was a first-aid kit sitting on the floor just in front of the it. A trap, most likely. Still, it was too good to pass up. Helga cautiously approached the mirror, being rewarded with a reflection that did exactly as she did. Relief washed over her, if only for a moment, that this mirror seemed to be normal. Helga bent down to retrieve the first-aid kit and, after successfully getting her hands on it, she looked up at the mirror again but found not her reflection, but someone else's. Instead of herself, it was Arnold staring back at her.

Helga stared at the strange mirror, again being accosted by the strange feeling that welled up in her stomach as well as the static on the radio. The reflection seemed to be laughing at her for some reason. Helga didn't waste time and threw the first-aid kit through the mirror, shattering it as well. After destroying the mirror and being rewarded with the sensation leaving her again, Helga picked up the first-aid kit and went on her way. As she was about to leave the room, however, something caught her eye. Sitting on one of the tables was a handgun. It was small, didn't appear to be too powerful, had a long thin barrel, and a comfortable grip. Helga lifted the firearm and marveled at how light it was. It barely weighed two pounds. Next to the pistol were several small boxes of ammunition for the pistol, labeling it as a Ruger MK III.

Realizing that this weapon was better than her slingshot, Helga pocketed the pistol and some of the ammo and left her slingshot behind along with the marbles she'd picked up for it. Helga knew she'd have to get practice with this thing sooner or later so, for once, she hoped to run into a monster she could test it out on, if only to get a feel for how it'd work. Still, perhaps she shouldn't wish for such things. It seemed a bit too out of character for her. She continued on her way, making sure she continued to look for more ammunition for her new weapon as well as a way out. Her path soon led her to the final room on the path she'd chosen, literally a dead end.

Helga opened the door and stepped inside, hoping that this room would have something of value in it for her. The second she stepped inside, however, the door behind her slammed shut and locked. The room itself was empty but had three large mirrors acting as walls. For mirrors, though, they were doing a really shitty job of being mirrors. None of them showed her reflection. Of course, Helga couldn't help but notice the radio's static and the uncomfortable feeling in her gut.

"Mommy, I have to go to preschool!" Came the voice of a younger Helga from the mirror on the left. Helga turned to face the source of the voice and saw herself when she was younger, standing next to her mother and father while her older sister, Olga, played away on her piano. Neither of her parents were paying any attention to the small child tugging away on their pants so she could go to preschool while her older sister did nothing to aid her sister's plight. She just ate up the attention. Watching her memory play away so vividly annoyed Helga greatly and only exacerbated her already massive dislike of her parents.

"Hah! Like I could ever like someone like _you_!" Came another familiar voice. Arnold's. Helga turned to the second mirror on the far side of the room and saw Arnold standing in it, laughing at her. She then realized that what she was seeing was what she'd seen before, only more elaborate. It was what she feared would happen if Arnold ever found out about her crush on him. The strange thing was, Helga doubted she could really blame him if that was his reaction. She'd treated him like crap for so long, it wouldn't have been completely surprising if that was what he said to her. Helga held her heart as if she'd been stabbed there. Even if she couldn't blame Arnold, it still hurt.

The sound of crying reached her ears again, only it wasn't Olga's this time. This time the cries, the tears, they were hers. Helga approached the final mirror and saw herself curled up in the fetal position on the floor. She was vulnerable, frail, exactly how Helga knew she was at her very core. All the tough girl stuff, all the bravado, in the end it was all a mask, a way to hide who she really was. Still, though, how could Helga even say what was really on her inside? Could she say she was still vulnerable, frightened, frail, in need of love and affection that was never given to her? She'd been the tough girl for so long, could she really open up? The one other thing that bothered her about this reflection was that it was totally and irrevocably alone. No one and nothing was anywhere near her. Another fear, being alone.

Helga flinched as a siren sounded. The floor beneath her tore up, leaving nothing but a grated floor with a massive hole in the center. Out of the mirror across from her, the reflection of her younger self approached the mirror and stuck her head out, revealing her to be nothing more than a large monster. The monster looked, for the most part, humanoid. Its face was strangely distorted, almost as if it were wearing a mask. Its lanky arms hands reached out next, showing long, clawed fingers that seemed suited for grabbing attached to large hands. It didn't seem to have a lower half or, if it did, it was still within the mirror. It looked directly at her before retreating into the mirror. Helga looked behind her in time to roll out of the way as the creature lunged out of the mirror closest to her and tried to grab her. It began to move closer to her while Helga retreated to a different mirror.

"This is going to suck!" Helga groused as she took shelter by the only wall that didn't have a mirror. The monster didn't act again. It just sat there, in the mirror, waiting patiently for her to approach. Helga knew it had her trapped. Killing it was the only way for her to pass. Helga pulled out her new firearm and sighed. Well, she wanted to use it earlier. Now she'd get her chance. Helga remembered her career day training with the police force of Hillwood. Though she never actually held a firearm, she did get a quick run through on the proper technique on holding, how to aim, and brace for recoil. The only problem left was the feelings she was still suffering from thanks to this beast. To remedy this, Helga did to them what she did best. She turned them into anger. "Bring it!" Helga raced past one of the mirrors which lured the monster out. It reached for Helga only for her to roll out of its reach and turn in a crouched position. With a smirk she opened fire on the creature, empty a magazine of ammo into its head.

The monster roared but was nonetheless still active. While Helga reloaded it retreated into the mirror and tried to get at her from another angle. Helga raced forward again, making sure she evaded the creature's grip and opened fire upon turning again, this time shooting the creature in the neck. After emptying another magazine, Helga reloaded and retreated to the door, ready to move again. This time, to her surprise, the monster appeared on the opposite side of the room. A small opening appeared in its face, the monster's mouth, Helga surmised, and a green liquid shot forth from the opening. Helga rolled out of the way and watched the liquid hit the grate. It did nothing but slide through and into the abyss below. So it wasn't acid. Helga raised her pistol but before she could shoot the monster, it again retreated into the mirror.

"Afraid of me now, huh?" Helga asked, showing all of her bravado. "Can't say I blame you!" Helga raced around the room in circles, waiting for intervals for when the monster would show itself, and would open fire as soon as she got a clear view of the damned thing. The monster again attempted to get to her by launching its arm out at her while she ran by. Helga jumped out of the way and jumped onto its arm before racing up and opening fire at the monster's head at point blank range.

The monster roared and recoiled, knocking Helga off its head and almost into the abyss. Helga grabbed onto the grate before the hole and pulled herself up just in time to avoid another strike from the monster's claws. Helga dodged out of the way and reloaded again. This thing was really hard to kill. Helga figured it might be easier to fight if she kept shooting at this thing at a close range. She'd have to wait until she could get close to shoot and maybe the damn thing would be hurt more. The strategy was lengthy but, after a while, the monster was, without a doubt, showing signs of weakening. Helga smirked and kept up the close range, high danger strategy until the monster could literally be seen struggling to leave and retreat into the mirrors.

The monster made a last attempt to knock Helga into the abyss by lunging out at her while she raced past. Helga dropped to the floor immediately, letting the monster's body soar over her as she fired at its underbelly. With a loud shriek that shattered the other two mirrors, the monster leaned over and hung partway into the hole in the center of the room. It groaned one final time before it stopped moving entirely and peeled away, leaving no sign that it ever existed.

Helga cheered triumphantly at her victory and threw her arms up in celebration. As she did though, the siren sounded off again that ushered Helga into sweet unconsciousness. When she awoke, she was in the same room that she was in when the Otherworld shift first occurred. Why hadn't she been moved this time? Every other time she'd awoken from the shift she'd been in a different place than when she started. Curious to say the least and a bit strange, for sure.

Helga checked the door and expressed her relief when she discovered it was unlocked. Stepping outside, the first thing Helga heard was the sound of Olga's crying, or at least it _sounded_ like Olga's, in the distance. Must've been that other monster again. Shaking her head, having had enough of a fight for now, Helga continued on her way, walking away from that room and hopefully toward a way out of this Order base.

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><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter. Finally got a Helga chapter out.<strong>

**Rendan: And as an added bonus, Helga fights the first boss monster.**

**Me: Essentially yes.**

**Zero: Dude, that's some fucked up shit. Get to the monster dictionary so I can figure this fucking thing out.**

**Me: Fine, fine.**

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><p><strong>Monster Dictionary:<strong>

**Name: Oculus  
><strong>

**Description: A very large monster that lives in mirrors. Its body is long and lanky, mostly to allow it to attack through small or narrow mirrors. It has skin the color of dried blood, a distorted face to appear as if it's wearing a mask, and long, bony, claw-like fingers that are best suited for grabbing. It has a small opening in its face that serves both as a mouth and a form of attacking. It has no teeth and so feeds on the blood of its victims by grabbing and tearing the limbs off to drink the fluid. It is a very patient monster that doesn't mind waiting for prey to approach. It lures its prey closer by showing them their innermost desires or worst fears, creating a type of horrified wonder that often stuns the prey long enough to be captured and killed.  
><strong>

**Speed: Medium-Fast  
><strong>

**Attack Methods: Poisonous spit, grabbing, cutting, stabbing or shooting (if the reflection is holding a weapon), and tearing.**

**Symbolism: The name Oculus comes from the notion of the eye being the gateway to the soul. The expression goes that you can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes. The mask is synonymous with the metaphorical masks that people wear to hide their true selves. In this case, the mask represents the strong, bully, front that Helga constantly wears to keep her truer emotions hidden from the world. The poisonous spit is representative for how Helga's mask has, in many ways, poisoned the way her classmates, and even her friends on occasion, view her. The many different methods of attacking are also best representative of how a person may describe the pain that's involved with keeping the mask up, as well as reflective of their inner desires to be hurt in a similar way to how they hurt others. The claw-like appendages are best representative of the tearing feeling one may experience when they're forced to hurt someone they care about to keep their mask up. In this case, they represent how Helga feels because of how she feels forced to treat Arnold to hide her affections for him. The small hole in the face represents the small hole in a person's mask. No matter how good the mask, something about a person's inner self will always shine through. In this case, Helga's good nature does sometimes show through despite her mask. The poison contradicts this, however, as sometimes when the mask breaks, the person is still further poisoned, representing how Helga fears people will view her when they discover that her bully act is exactly that, an act.**

* * *

><p><strong>Rendan: And here I thought you couldn't surprise me anymore.<strong>

**Me: Well, I can't take all the credit. The initial idea for the monster, including how it lures its prey and some of the symbolism, was given to me by Dream Dragoness. A special thanks to Dream Dragoness for the idea and letting me twist it to better suit the story and to be just a little more fucked up. Again, thanks a bunch!**

**Zero: Well, that was a hell of a chapter. Can't wait to see what happens next.**

**Rendan: Is it just me, or was there something... strangely familiar about where Helga was?**

**Me: It's not just you. Anyway, that'll do it for this time. Be good and be safe.**

**All: We're outta here!**


	24. Helga and The Guardian

**Me: Well, that was a hell of a wait.**

**Zero: Yeah, you took a while with this one.**

**Rendan: I figure since school is back on and the tough subjects it gets tough to find time.**

**Me: You'd be right about that. Well, let's just say that this chapter is a direct continuation from where we left Helga last time. I'll let you all see what happens.**

**Zero: Well, I'm going to get started. I just.. yeah. I wanna see.**

**Rendan: Me too.**

**Guardian: I'll handle the disclaimer.**

**Zero & Rendan: You again!?**

**Guardian: Duh. Anyway. Azard does not own Silent Hill, its established creatures, or Hey Arnold. They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. Heh, Bartlett. Anyway. The only things Azard owns are the plot, the OCs, the monsters he's created in that demented void he calls a mind and the puzzles he's created. Good to see a guy that does his homework on the shit he's supposed to be writing though.**

**Me: I try. Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 24: Helga and The Guardian<span>

Helga lost track of how long she'd wandered the halls of the Order hideout she'd fallen into. Could've been hours. Maybe days. Days? Had it really been so long? Any sane person would've doubted such a seeming impossibility. Sadly, this was not a world for sane people. This was Silent Hill, a world that ran on impossible and seemed to exist solely for the purpose of driving the previously sane completely mad. Still, if she gave up she would never escape from this place and would probably be picked off by some monster that happened to be walking on by. Not that the last few that tried had any luck getting the drop on her.

Helga couldn't explain but there had been a strange sensation that began to brew in the pit of her stomach whenever a monster was nearby. At first it made her nauseous and want nothing more than to empty her stomach in the corner. Now, however, it was more. It was her own personal warning signal, more effective than even the loudest radio. Sure, it didn't pinpoint exactly where the monsters were, that would have made it too easy, but it put her on guard to the point that it didn't matter. The feeling would come and Helga would drop into her shooting stance faster than her classmate Harold Berman could eat a sandwich. Considering the boy wasn't known for his restraint when it came to eating, it was pretty damn quick.

As she wandered, the nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach returned just as the sound of crying reached her ears again, echoing from the near endless hallway behind her. Helga spun and drew her gun to aim it down the hall as she continued to walk backwards. As she continued to move, the nauseating feeling began to worsen, but only just slightly. Perhaps the creature was catching up. Maybe something was now coming at her from the rear. Helga quickly spun around, blasting the light of her flashlight down the darkened hallway revealing nothing to be there. She continued to walk backwards, waiting for the damned crying monster to reveal itself.

Walking backwards, Helga neglected, quite obviously, to watch where she was going. She suddenly felt her back connect with something solid. Shrieking at being snuck up on, Helga turned and unloaded a full magazine into whatever she'd bumped into. As the smoke from the gun cleared and the light from the flashlight shined through, Helga soon realized that she'd wasted an entire magazine of her limited ammunition shooting at a door.

"Criminy, I hate this place," Helga groused. Turning around briefly to see if she was being followed, Helga tried the doorknob and sighed with great relief upon her discovery that it was not locked. She walked into the room and closed the door only for a siren to blare loudly almost immediately after the door shut. "Damn it! Not again!" Helga shouted. She turned around, her gun poised and her finger on the trigger, as the world around her once more tore away and ushered her into the hellish Otherworld.

Almost immediately after the shift, Helga's ears were assaulted by music. Operatic music, specifically, and a song that she recognized. It was the introduction music from the opera "Carmen". Helga looked around in an attempt to find the source of the beautiful tune. She found it in a phonograph that was, to her surprise, playing a disc entitled "Carmen". Whoever set this up liked Opera, apparently. It was only then that she realized that the room was nothing like the empty room she'd been in before the shift. Now, there was a large stage in one part of the room and many rows of seats at the other, including several balconies and box seats. The shift had turned the empty room into a demented opera house.

"Arnold, my love, my soultry preteen," an almost mocking voice boomed. "Why must I hold you, only whilst I dream? Will I be forever enslaved by your spell? Why must I worship you, and never, ever, tell?" Helga whirled around, her gun aimed at the source of the sound. On the balcony of one of the box seats, with a pink book, one that she recognized, held open in one hand, was the shadowy figure of the Guardian. Helga lowered her gun. If she wanted to take out someone as strong as this guy, fighting him head on was a death sentence. She'd have to be tricky. "Oh, Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble," the Guardian continued as he leapt and almost floated down to the ground before her, "my senses all go wacky. Someday I'll tell the world, my love, or my name's not Helga. G. Pataki." He seemed to punctuate her name at the end for whatever reason. Helga remained silent, waiting for him to speak again. In that time, the music skipped from the intro to 'Habanera'.

"What do you want?" Helga asked, getting straight to the point. The Guardian chuckled as he calmly, and without the slightest hint of worry, walked around the girl at a deliberately slow pace.

"I was just enjoying some of your poetry," the Guardian simply replied. "I must admit, for a nine year old girl this is surprisingly mature. There's even an adult excerpt within that I am unaware if you know what it truly signifies. Truly the troubled soul, aren't you?"

"If you came here to mock me," Helga grated out angrily while she reached into her dress to procure the Aglaophotis only to discover too late that she didn't have it. Something seemed eerily wrong with the music player as it seemed to, at this point, have 'Habanera' on a loop.

"Looking for this?" He asked as he held his once empty hand out. Helga gasped. Within his outstretched hand was the vial of Aglaophotis. Helga tried to reel in her surprise but was apparently doing a piss poor job of it. "Don't be so surprised. There's a reason The Order fears me. I'm the best at what I do and, for the time being, what I do is hunt, survive, and hunt to survive."

"Also look into people's minds for their most personal thoughts and torment them with said thoughts," Helga commented. The Guardian laughed. "So what are you going to do with that book?"

"This? Oh, nothing," the Guardian said as he dropped the book and it peeled into nothingness before it ever hit the floor. "There wasn't even anything written in it, to be honest. I looked into your mind and read it from your memories. You're quite talented, I must say. A troubled soul with the insight of one much older than yourself, and the vocabulary to match. Though, to trouble yourself so much over a boy doesn't say much for you, I'm afraid."

"Shut up!" Helga demanded. "You don't know anything!"

"Don't I?" The Guardian wondered. "I reached into your mind to procure what I did, and that's not the only thing I've seen. I was aware that girls reached puberty and concerned themselves with boys before boys did the same about girls, but that was a bit much. Your poetry alone is all obsessive, all focused on one thing, while you could do so much more."

"Like what?" Helga asked, still glaring the Guardian down as he paced around her.

"Did that aptitude test mean nothing?" He responded with a question. "Or did you almost disregard it because of your teacher's mix-up? Woodsman. Oh, I'm sorry, Woods_person_, because Woodsman was, as your classmate put it, 'politically incorrect'. With the potential you have, I wonder why you squander it being a full on obsessive person and/or a borderline stalker."

"Don't you have better things to do than to intrude in my mind?" Helga shouted. She lashed out and threw a punch at the Guardian, but he seemed to dissolve around her punch and reform as she fell forward onto the floor.

"It's not just _your _mind, Helga," the Guardian admitted. "I'm in everyone's mind. I could tell you whether or not the one that 'makes your girlhood tremble'," the Guardian paused to shudder, "that's cringe worthy. Well, regardless, I can tell you whether or not he shares your feelings." Helga's eyes widened considerably. "But I won't."

"Why the hell not?!" Helga roared. She pulled out her gun and opened fire on him and had to watch, helplessly, as he seemed to dissolve and reappear in a different place after every shot. She didn't stop firing until she'd emptied the next magazine. "You're in everyone's mind and you seem to have no problems airing my laundry, why won't you air out Arnold's or Lila's?" The Guardian seemed to ponder that question for a moment.

"Because it won't do me any favors to do so," the Guardian replied. "Simply put, I need to know what makes you dopes tick, what drives you forward, what holds you back, if only so I can be aware of what you'll face. Then, it's my job to torment you until you either die or overcome and accept your inner darkness." Helga growled. This guy was really grinding on her last nerve and the song 'Habanera' on an endless loop was doing nothing to aid the situation.

"Too bad you're so much of a coward or I'd pound it out of you!" Helga exclaimed. "And shut that damned music off!" The Guardian laughed. "What's so god damned funny?!"

"I would love to shut the music off, Helga, but I'm afraid I can't," the Guardian stated. "Only you can."

"Well why didn't you say so earlier?!" Helga shouted as she stomped over to the phonograph and attempted to turn it off. She tried to lift the needle, which would've ended the never ending music but for some reason she couldn't. It was as if the needle weighed a thousand pounds or, more or possibly less likely, the needle had somehow been glued or attached to the phonograph. Helga tried to stop the disc by hand but found herself flung across the room as her hand grasped the disc.

Getting up and more angry by the second, Helga reloaded her gun and fired a single bullet at the phonograph, hoping that destroying it would shut the music off. The bullet, however, ricocheted off the music player and struck the stage. Aggravation taking over, Helga once more stomped to the phonograph and proceeded to attempt anything she could think of to turn it off while the Guardian silently laughed.

"We're going to be here a while," he muttered with a twisted grin barely visible on his shadowy form.

(Location: With Arnold, Lila, and AJ)

"Helga! Answer me!" Arnold shouted into the hole. When no response came Arnold growled. "Fine, then I'm going in after her!" Arnold readied to jump into the hole only to be pulled back by both Lila and AJ.

"Don't be stupid, Arnold!" AJ exclaimed. "Throwing yourself down a hole isn't going to solve anything! If something did happen to Helga and you jump down there you'd only get yourself killed too!"

"Well then what do _you _suggest we do?" Arnold asked. "Helga would come after us so why aren't we going after her?" AJ shook his head.

"We are, Arnold, but not that way," AJ said. "Call it whatever you want but I have a bad feeling about this hole." Just as he finished speaking a cry emitted from the hole. One thing was for certain, it did _not_ sound like Helga.

"T-That sounds like Olga," Lila noted. "I recognize the voice. What's Olga doing here?!"

"Olga?" AJ questioned.

"Helga's big sister," Arnold answered, "and if I hadn't seen both Arnie and your father, Lila, I'd be wondering the same thing."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Lila said. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sensing a sibling rivalry thing here," AJ commented.

"That's the polite way of putting it," Arnold added. "Helga _hates_ her older sister with a passion. I think it has a lot to do with Olga being the ideal daughter her parents wanted while Helga was... Helga."

"That's fucked up," AJ stated.

"Yeah, well, I'm none too fond of her dad, myself," Arnold said bitterly. "It wouldn't be hard to see why she dislikes her family, to be honest."

"I do recall seeing her mother drinking a lot of smoothies," Lila remembered.

"Or she called them smoothies," AJ commented.

"What do you mean?" Lila asked.

"He's got a point," Arnold stated.

"I've heard that people refer to booze as different things to keep their kids from realizing what they were drinking," AJ said. "Either the cultists did it to be 'funny' or they just didn't want their superiors to know they were getting drunk on the job. Easiest to get the drop on, or sneak by, them when they were drunk."

"Seriously?" Arnold wondered aloud to which AJ nodded. "Well, if Olga is down there then we should help her!"

"Could also be a monster," AJ mentioned. "You said that the old looking monster looked like your grandpa. I wouldn't say it's impossible, especially if Helga really does hate her older sister."

"But I don't hate my Grandpa!" Arnold argued.

"You don't have to hate him," AJ continued. "There might be something regarding him that troubles you."

"Maybe," Arnold admitted. "Either way, regarding Helga's relationship with her sister, perhaps hate was too strong a word now that I think about it but it's definitely a strong dislike."

"Even that's more than enough," AJ said. "We may want to be cautious this time and _not _take a chance."

"If it's a monster can't you just kill it?" Lila asked. AJ shook his head.

"It doesn't always work that way," AJ answered. "Some monsters are bred from one person's mind, and sometimes only that person can kill it."

"So you're saying there's a chance that if what we're hearing is a monster, only Helga can kill it?" Arnold queried. AJ simply nodded. "Then I agree with you and we should find another way down... if one even exists."

"One almost always does," AJ stated, bolstering Arnold's resolve. With little more said, the trio headed away from the prison to try and locate Helga.

(Location: With Helga and The Guardian)

The Guardian watched, still holding back a laugh, as Helga maliciously stomped down onto the phonograph, doing absolutely no damage to it and certainly not stopping the continuous loop of 'Habanera'. Helga dropped to her knees, her stamina finally giving out, and breathed heavily.

"Why. Won't. It. Stop?" Helga breathlessly asked. "Make it stop..."

"Ya'know if I knew that all it'd take to drive you nuts is an endless loop of 'Habanera', I'd have done this ages ago," the Guardian wryly commented. "Seriously, it shouldn't be this easy."

"Oh, shut up you!" Helga demanded. "Your job is being done, isn't that all you care about?!"

"Is it?" The Guardian asked. Helga stopped panting and looked directly at him. "You don't know what my plan is, Helga. You have no damn idea what it is. Maybe my plan _is _to kill you or to drive you and your friends to the point you'll kill each other. Maybe it isn't. Don't act like you know everything or you'll be in the same boat as your unrequited lover-boy." Helga growled angrily and leapt up again, throwing another punch at the entity only for him to once more dissolve and reassemble behind her. "I've been patient with you, Helga. I've been more patient than I should be, but I don't like being attacked. I gave Arnold the same warning, though I suppose you're something of a more bitter and stubborn case. Attack me again and I _will_ make you regret it!"

"Then why haven't you done anything!?" Helga angrily questioned. "Maybe all your power is just talk! Maybe... maybe your only power comes from what people think you can do. If they don't think you can do anything, you really can't! Your powers come from the beliefs of your adversaries and nothing more!" Helga couldn't be sure but she thought she saw the Guardian blink.

"All that intelligence, wasted," the Guardian said. "It really is a damn shame. To be able to come up with that all on your own is something quite impressive." The Guardian turned away from Helga and sighed heavily. "Tis a shame, a damned shame, to have this wasted on a girl that has such... improper tendencies." Helga took the opportunity the Guardian presented her with by turning his back to pick up her gun and fire on him one last time, taking no heed to his warning. The Guardian dispersed again and, in the next instant, Helga found herself lifted by her throat into the air. The Guardian had reappeared in front of her and lifted her by her throat with one hand and disarmed her with the other.

"W-why won't you... die?" Helga gasped out as the grip on her throat continued to slowly constrict and her breathing became more and more shallow. Within seconds, her vision began to darken.

"I warned you," the Guardian said just as Helga's vision faded to black. After what felt like seconds to Helga she awoke again. Her vision, now blurry, slowly began to focus as Helga's breathing returned to normal. With her sight back to normal, Helga glanced around at her surroundings and felt her blood run cold. Tombstones surrounded her, stretching down all directions endlessly. The words on said tombstones were illegible, worn away by either time or some vandal. Even with her vision back, Helga's view was limited due to the immense fog that covered the area. Still, she had an idea of where she was.

'A cemetery. Am I back in the Fog World?' Helga thought. Even here, the music of 'Habanera' haunted her and continued to play on a loop. She picked a direction and began to walk in it, enjoying the relative silence of the Guardian no longer taunting her before that unsettling feeling in her gut returned. Remembering what happened before she ended up there, Helga checked both her shirt and pockets. Both the Aglaophotis and her gun were still gone. Perhaps it was too much to hope for that she'd still have them. As the feeling in her gut vanished and she continued on, it seemed as though the cemetery would never end. The sounds of 'Habanera' were finally shattered by the sound of metal hitting stone which seemed to come from all directions. Helga stopped short and looked around, spotting a shady figure some ways to her left. Ignoring the voice in her head telling her to run in the opposite direction, she approached the figure.

"It's okay, my beloved," the figure said in a manic voice that chilled Helga to her core; it was her own. "I've found you at last." Helga approached as the shady figure came into view. It was her, no doubt, but considerably worse for the ware. Her hair was practically falling out and she had several bald spots on her head. Her eyes were wide, manic, completely obsessed and utterly broken. Her dress and shirt were both torn from what may have been constant battling. With nothing else uttered, the haggard Helga picked up a shovel and began to dig. Helga backed away slowly, turned, and tried to run before she collided with a solid object. Backing away slightly from the object she glanced at what she'd bumped into. The shadowy figure of The Guardian stood before her, a malicious grin somehow appearing despite his darkened figure. Helga blanched. How had she not sensed him!? How did he get passed her defense?

"We're not in the Fog World, you twit," the Guardian said, answering her unspoken question. "We're in your mind, in a world I've created using all that I know about you. Your defenses are nonexistent in this world. Your mind is quite the open book, I must say." Helga began to back away again but soon found herself restrained by something. Looking down, she noticed barbed wires sticking out of the ground that wrapped around her legs, preventing her movement. The Guardian held out a finger and spun it counterclockwise once, making the wire turn Helga around to face her demented doppelgänger as the wires stretched upwards and bound her completely. "We're going to watch a little performance of a road you seem to be heading down."

"You can't make me watch anything!" Helga shouted defiantly as she shut her eyes. Seconds later she felt something touch her eyes and dig their way underneath her eyelids before pulling apart, forcing her eyes open. Helga shouted in pain as the barbed wires that pierced her eyelids kept her eyes open as widely as they could manage.

"I can't, eh?" The Guardian questioned in humor. "I'd say I'm doing a bang-up job of making you do what I want. Now, watch!" Helga was forced to watch as her demented doppelgänger continued to dig in the same place until, moments later, she pulled out a strangely small, pinewood, coffin.

"At last!" Demented Helga shouted in bliss. "I've found you, my beloved!" She opened the pine coffin and revealed the body housed within while laughing manically. Helga watched on in horror as her demented double pulled Arnold's corpse from within and set his deceased body on the ground. "It's okay now, beloved! No one can ever separate us again!" Demented Helga leaned down and kissed the dead boy's cold lips. "Now, we can have the life that this Hell denied us." Demented Helga, in some sort of trance, began to strip the corpse until it was bare before doing the same to herself. Sitting herself atop the dead body, the demented double began to do things that would haunt Helga for the rest of her life. Helga, her eyes held open, was being forced to watch this version of herself _violate_ Arnold's dead body. The tones of 'Habanera' only made the scene all the more disturbing and vile.

"Quite the performance, I'd say," the Guardian stated as he began a slow clap. "First insanity, then pedophilia, and finally necrophilia. Amazing what obsession can do to a person." He let out a laugh as several terrified whimpers escaped Helga's lips. A second later and Helga was turned around once again to look into the Guardian's shadowed visage. "I was willing to let you go on about your merry way but you just had to provoke me, didn't you." He laughed a little louder. "Well, there is little more that I can do to make this more perfect." He turned away from her before turning back, his gut-encrusted eyes showing through the lashed out grabbed her face before Helga once more awoke in the Otherworld, back in the room with the stage and the repeating phonograph.

"Wh-what was that?" Helga whimpered out, huddling to herself in the fetal position in the middle of the floor. "I wouldn't... I couldn't... not to Arnold... not to anybody."

"Keep telling yourself that," the mocking voice of the Guardian echoed in the room. "Obsession is such an interesting quirk of humanity. Honestly, you're not too much different than The Order. Your obsessions merely differ in subject." Helga listened silently to the soft footsteps of the Guardian as he paced around her. Helga kept her eyes glued to the floor, unable to look anywhere else. "You'll understand some day."

"N-no," Helga softly whimpered. "No... I can't... I won't..." Helga continued to whimper while the Guardian took a seat on the stage and watched her. "I will _never_ do such a thing!" With her declaration, the music abruptly stopped playing and silenced. Helga looked toward the object only to see it break apart and melt into the floor as if the floor had turned to acid. "It... it stopped."

"Seems as though you've made a breakthrough," the Guardian laughed. "Took you long enough. For everything a reason, Helga, and I'm merely playing Devil's Advocate. It's fun enough when you know how to. Either way," he moved to Helga as she only watched him in horror and opened her hands, placing the vial of Aglaophotis in one and her gun in the other, "I'll be sure you get back to the Fog World. Your friends are waiting for you. Exit stage left, Helga." The Guardian turned and took a few steps away before he abruptly stopped. "Oh, and before I forget," he turned again and suddenly reappeared inches from her face,_ "I fucking warned you!"_ Helga shut her eyes tightly as the sounds of the siren blared around her. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the same room, only in the Fog World. She was alone and the Guardian was gone. Her sense slowly returning to her, Helga checked her eyelids for any holes in them only to find none. Strange, the pain had felt so real.

"I... I'm still alive," Helga muttered, amazed by that fact. "He didn't kill me. He could've but... he didn't. Why? Why didn't he kill me? What's he going to do next?" She took some quick breaths. "The Order was right to fear him. If he's capable of so much, it's no surprise he's so feared. Those monsters... they must fear him too. He has to be the only thing they fear." Helga jumped as soon as a pounding noise resounded from the only other door in the room.

"You think she's behind here?" A male muffled voice asked, filling Helga with dread.

"It's worth a shot," another male voice stated. "The door's just jammed, not locked. We should be able to bust it open. Ready? On three! One! Two! Three!" There was another loud slam on the door.

"No good!" The first male said. "Again! One! Two! Three!" Another loud bang. "One more should do it!"

"One! Two! Three!" The two chimed in perfect synch as this time the door smashed inward, allowing whomever was slamming on the door through. Helga's eyes widened in both relief and strangely fear when she found her saviors to be Arnold and AJ.

"Helga!" Arnold shouted. "Thank God you're okay!" He approached her only for Helga to shriek and back away from him, still on the floor. "Helga?" Lila, having heard the shriek, entered the room and stood behind the two boys.

"Not good," AJ muttered. "The Hell happened to her?"

"Helga," Arnold repeated, softer this time. "It's me, Arnold. You know, Football Head? Come on, Helga, it's alright." Arnold approached again and again Helga shrieked and backed away from the rest of them.

"Helga," Lila cooed, trying to get through to the girl, "we're your friends. You can trust us. We're here to help you." Lila began to approach but had her path barred by AJ who held his arm out to stop her. When she looked at him AJ only shook his head.

"No!" Helga shrieked. "Stay away! Stay away from me! I'm not like that! I'm not! I won't do that to you! Not to you, not to any of you! Stay the Hell away!" The three others looked between each other, none of them saying a word but their expressions all said the same thing.

"What the fuck happened to Helga?"

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's the chapter!<strong>

**Rendan & Zero: WHAT THE FUCK?!**

**Me: Ah, I missed that reaction oh so much.  
><strong>

**Guardian: Silent Hill. Anything, and I do mean anything, goes there. Ugh. Still, I wish she didn't provoke me. Oh well, maybe she'll really learn a lesson from this.**

**Zero: You twisted S.O.B.**

**Guardian: Hey, I might've done it but _he_ wrote it. *Points me me***

**Me: Well, I wanted to make a good return. Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently when classes aren't overwhelming me.**

**Rendan: I think I'm good for a while. I'm going to go to the hot springs and have a soak. Maybe then I'll be able to wash what happened from my mind.**

**Guardian: Wuss.  
><strong>

**Zero: I'm with Rendan. *They both leave***

**Guardian: Well, that was fun.**

**Me: Quite.**

**Guardian: Let's wrap this up. Be good and be safe, everyone!**

**Me: We're, very obviously, outta here!**


End file.
